Grimsby Telegraph : Grimsby country music singer Miki Peters dies just 10 weeks after cancer diagnosis - Grimsby Live
Famous country music star Miki Peters tragically passed away aged 60
One of Grimsby's best-loved performers has tragically died just 10 weeks after receiving a cancer diagnosis.
Michaela Peterson, who had just turned 60 years old, was a chart-topper in the Country Music scene and toured nationally and internationally with her husband, Mark, for many years. The couple had been together for 32 years and a funeral service will be held at Healing Church where they married, three days after what would have been their 27th wedding anniversary.
Michaela, whose stage name was Miki Peters, will be carried in a horse-drawn carriage with family, including, daughter Dani and son Sven and friends walking behind, along with her beloved dogs, Heidi, Lottie and Elsa.
Many fans will be among the mourners who were all asked to wear something in the colour coral, which was Michaela's favourite. She died in St Andrew's Hospice, peacefully, on Thursday with her children and husband by her side.
Mark told how she courageously battled against her illness which was first diagnosed on May 1, after a kidney complaint. But her cancer spread rapidly and she was cared for at home by her family before going into hospital in Grimsby four days before she died.
Her family described how she fulfilled her dream of becoming a Country Music star, having grown up in a musical family with dad Gordon "Honky-Tonk" Smith and mum Ursula. Gordon and Uschi performed in a group "The Country Couples," and Michaela grew up in Germany. She came to Grimsby aged 10 years old with Uschi and settled in Grimsby. Sadly, she died when Michaela was 28 years old.
Growing up in Legsby Avenue, she went to Hereford School where she enjoyed singing and performing in school plays. She later became a teacher herself, teaching IT at at Whitgift School and German language at Wintringham School. Michaela also worked as a model, when she returned to Germany, where she mixed with song writers and performers.
Among them were Milli Vanilli a pop duo who had huge success with a song "Blame it on the Rain" which Michaela's family said she wrote. They said it was inspired by a former flame's reaction when rain stopped him riding his motorcycle for fun.
Music flowed through her varied career which also included modelling, working in a stockbrokers and at the bar of Gullivers nightclub in Grimsby. In 2010 when her father Gordon came to stay at the family home in Healing, they regularly did sing-a-longs. That inspired her to become a performer like her father and she was a regular on stages throughout northern Lincolnshire, in pubs and clubs.
She was one half of a duo with Phil Mumby, before going solo. Mark said: "She had such a natural Country Music voice and performed in almost every pub in town. She was a regular act at The Freeman Arms, the Black Bull at East Halton and many more bars. She did New Year's Eve parties at Millfields and we were forever going out on the road at weekends, travelling to shows from Devon to Glasgow.
She performed at Festivals in Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands and Italy and had an audience of over 2,000 at The Malverns Three Counties Festival. Michaela wrote the songs for her debut album "Have You Heard." It included the hit single "Just Leave Me Here By The Juke Box," which was a No1 in the Country Music charts in 2011.
Son Sven, a talented guitarist, said: "She was very proud of her musical success. We all were. She loved it when people got up to dance. As well as music, another of her great passions was her garden. She spent so much of her time growing her own vegetables and flowers and she built an allotment."
He added: "She was also a great history buff of went touring National Trust places and enjoyed stately homes and castles. For her 60th birthday the family held a special medieval night at Coombe Abbey in the Midlands, with all the family dressing up.
Michaela is survived also by her sister, Rachael and she has two granddaughters, Isla and Imogen, on whom she doted and will forever be "Nani." A funeral service will be held at Healing Church from 1.30pm on Tuesday, August 2.
Her family has chosen one of her own songs "Say I love You" which Mark explained is not a romantic song but a prescription to say it often to loved ones. "It is very poignant because when you listen to the words about asking when it was the last time you said to the people most important in your life, that you say that you love them, it is moving."
She will be carried into church by Sven and his friends all remembering how she became an "adopted mother" to them with a welcome in her home at any time and the chance of a meal and care. Michaela became renowned for her potato salads and Sven enjoyed learning recipes from his mother, especially a chorizo pasta.
Daughter Dani said: "She meant everything to us. She was a best friend, as well as mum. You just need to look around and see everything that she did. We loved going to Brigg Garden Centre. She taught me a lot and Sunday was always a family day. She was always a great role model. "
Sven said he will treasure her musical memories and look after her guitars. Mark said: "She was a big believer in family. She could never be forgotten, not after 32 years." Mark said the family wish to freely donate the large allotment she tended for many years on Great Coates Road, to a local charity.
"She believed hugely in the benefits of gardening for mental health. It is a big allotment and we want to hear from any group who could benefit from looking after it," said Mark. He said any group interested can contact him at mark@mspaccounts.co.uk
