Throwback Artist Bio: The B-52’s

The B-52’s may very well be one of the best bands the world has ever seen. It’s an American new wave band that was formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976. The original line-up consisted of Fred Schneider (vocals, percussion), Kate Pierson (vocals, keyboards), Cindy Wilson (vocals, percussion), Ricky Wilson (guitar), and Keith Strickland (drums, guitar, keyboards).

The name B-52’s comes from a particular beehive hairdo resembling the nose cone of the aircraft, which Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson wore during performances throughout the band’s first decade.

The band would experiment with many line-up changes during this time and experienced very little success with their first four studio albums. The band would also experience tragedy with the loss of Cindy Wilson’s brother Ricky Wilson in 1995 due to AIDS-related illness. Ricky had a unique playing style that was not easy to replace. When the band returned to the studio, Strickland had learned how to play the guitar in Wilson’s unique style and switched permanently to the new instrument, leaving session players to complete the rhythm section.

The new formula the band implemented brought them an enormous amount of success with the next album titled The Cosmic Thing. With the singles “Love Shack” and “Roam” the band would forever be remembered as one of the branding sounds of music in the ’90s.

The B-52’s would go on to produce two more full-length albums with The Good Stuff in 1992 and The Funplex in 2008. While the group has evaded commercial success on the later albums the quality of the music is profound. Each album is lathered with great lyrics, beautiful melodies, and lots of fun for music fans of all walks of life.