Originating from Minnesota, Peter Himmelman fronted the pop/rock quintet Sussman Lawrence, which issued a pair of independent albums during the early 1980s and drew comparisons for him to new wave singer/songwriters Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson. That same ensemble later served as his backing unit on the 1986 debut This Father's Day, an album that secured a deal with Island Records. Subsequent releases included Gematria in 1987, Synesthesia in 1989, and From Strength to Strength in 1991; by the time of the final title he had shifted to Epic Records, which issued Flown This Acid World in 1992 and Skin in 1994. Stage Diving surfaced on the Plump label in 1996, while the next year brought the children's project My Best Friend Is a Salamander on Baby Boom. Still in 1997, Himmelman joined the Six Degrees imprint under Island Records, where Love Thinketh No Evil appeared as his first offering in spring 1998. Additional children's recordings ensued, along with Unstoppable Forces on Majestic in 2004. The raw and bluesy Imperfect World arrived in 2005 and was followed by his debut anthology, Mission of My Soul: The Best of Peter Himmelman. Rounder Records put out the children's album My Green Kite in 2007; that same year also saw The Pigeons Couldn't Sleep, with My Trampoline and The Mystery and the Hum appearing in 2009 and 2010, respectively.
