Peter Dougherty, television music executive, Died at 59

  Music

Peter Dougherty was born on December 13, 1955, in Queens, New York, United States and died on October 12, 2015, in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, United State.

He was an American music and television executive.

Peter was the creator of the show Yo! MTV Raps, and played a formative role in shaping the early development on MTV.

Peter graduated from Ithaca in 1977.

In1983, Peter worked as a production assistant at MTV, then a fledgling network.

In the 80s, Peter was working on the on-air promotions department of MTV when he began advocating for a show focused on rap music.

In 1985, Peter had become a producer, working on promotional spots, including the brief interstitial clips that gave the network its edge.

Peter was a friend of the Beastie Boys, the producer Rick Rubin, the artist and bon vivant Fab 5 Freddy and the artists who congregated around the Fun Gallery in the East Village.

Peter directed a bunch of music videos, including “Hold It Now, Hit It” for the Beastie Boys and “Fairytale of New York” for the Pogues, a wry Celtic punk band that he, who was of Irish extraction.

He left for London to work for MTV Europe in various creative capacities in 1990.

Peter returned to New York in the mid-2000s.

Peter Dougherty passed away at 59 years old due to a heart attack.