Sweet Pea Atkinson has been played on NTS in shows including Funk Freaks Radio, featured first on 19 May 2025. Songs played include Dance Or Die.

Sweet Pea Atkinson (born Hillard Atkinson in Oberlin, Ohio, on 20 September 1945; died in Los Angeles, CA, on 5 May 2020) was an American R&B singer remembered as one of the vocalists for the band Was (Not Was).

Atkinson joined Was (Not Was) as joint lead vocalist alongside "Sir" Harry Bowens and featured on some of the band's most successful recordings. In 1982, shortly after the release of the first Was (Not Was) album, Atkinson recorded and released his first solo album, Don't Walk Away.

Atkinson later joined forces with blues guitarist Randy Jacobs – a longtime Was (Not Was) session guitarist who co-wrote the band's most successful hit, "Walk the Dinosaur" – in The Boneshakers.

Atkinson toured for ten years with Lyle Lovett, and sang on records by Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Brian Wilson, Willie Nelson, Iggy Pop, Jackson Browne, and many others.