Vicki Peterson (The Bangles)

Vicki Peterson wrote, sang and played lead guitar on many of the Bangles’ best songs, even if they weren’t the ones that made the band famous. In a smart, revealing conversation, the down-to-earth Peterson reflects on the Bangles’ origins—and her desire to be in an all-female band, which soon would include her sister Debbi (a former Caropop guest) and singer/guitarist Susanna Hoffs—and the compromises and rising tensions that accompanied their success. In the aftermath of a painful Bangles breakup, Peterson—a band person through and through—joins the Continental Drifters, teams with Susan Cowsill in the Psycho Sisters and tours with the Go-Go’s. The Bangles also reunite for two more albums. What lies in the future for the Bangles and Continental Drifters? What is Peterson’s creative life like now? (Photo: Rebecca Wilson Studio.)