Cindy Wilson


Cynthia Leigh Wilson is an American singer, and is one of the vocalists, songwriters and founding members of new wave rock band the B-52s. She is noted for her distinctive contralto voice and also plays percussion during live shows. Wilson is the younger sister of the late guitarist Ricky Wilson, who was also a founding member of the band.

The B-52's

The B-52's were formed when Wilson, guitarist Ricky Wilson, keyboardist and backing vocalist Kate Pierson, drummer and percussionist Keith Strickland, and lead vocalist Fred Schneider played an impromptu musical jam session after sharing a tropical Flaming Volcano drink at a local Chinese restaurant. They later played their first concert in 1977 at a Valentine's Day party for their friends. Cindy Wilson was the youngest member of the band.
Wilson and the others broke into the music world when their 1979 debut album The B-52's yielded the charting singles "Rock Lobster" and "Planet Claire" and launched the band into stardom.
On April 21, 1985, she married Keith Bennett, a successful advertiser who was a longtime friend of the band and Ricky's guitar tech on tour. Ricky died later that year, leaving her devastated.
Wilson took a sabbatical from the band in 1990 to concentrate on raising a family of three children, during which time the B-52's recorded and released the album Good Stuff as a trio of Pierson, Schneider and Strickland. During the live tour to promote Good Stuff in 1992 and 1993, Julee Cruise sang as a replacement for Wilson.
Wilson rejoined the B-52's in 1994. In 1998, she took part in recordings for two new songs to be included with the band's hit singles on the album . Wilson then took maternity leave in 1999, later rejoining the band in 2001 for regular touring of their greatest hits.
The B-52's completed the album Funplex in 2007, and it was released in March 2008. Wilson co-wrote every song on the album with the three other band members. In all, she has co-written much of the band's catalog, including "Dance This Mess Around", "Private Idaho" and all of the Cosmic Thing album, including hit singles "Love Shack" and "Roam".
Wilson's vocal efforts include the typical B-52's "call-and-response" vocals with Schneider and/or Pierson, as well as her harmonies with Pierson on the band's all-female songs such as "Roam", "52 Girls", "Cake", "Legal Tender", "Summer of Love" and "Juliet of the Spirits". One of the band's signature elements is the setup among the three vocalists. However, Wilson sings the greatest number of solo performances in the band, especially on their earlier albums. Examples of Cindy's solo vocal performances in the B-52's include "Hero Worship", "Loveland", "Nip It in the Bud", "Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland", "Ain't It a Shame", "She Brakes for Rainbows" and "Give Me Back My Man".
Wilson plays the bongos on live favorites like "Planet Claire", "Mesopotamia", "Pump" and "Party Out of Bounds" as well as other songs such as "6060-842" and "Big Bird". She also has played acoustic guitar in The Cindy Wilson Band, made electric guitar contributions on the songs "There's a Moon in the Sky " from the B-52's first album, and played the guitar solo for "Nip It In the Bud" during the band's 1982 Mesopotamia tour. She has stated that she was encouraged to play guitar by her brother, but experienced finger pain. Cindy briefly played a note or two on the keyboard during the band's Whammy! tour version of Private Idaho and at Rock In Rio 1985. She also played an electronic drum kit on a commercial for the WE tv network.

Ricky Wilson

In an interview with The Age, Wilson stated her elder brother Ricky didn't tell anyone except Keith Strickland about his illness.

Solo releases

Cindy Wilson self-released an EP of new material, Sunrise, in September 2016. February 2017 saw the self-release of another EP of new material, Supernatural.
Her debut full-length solo album Change was released in December 2017 on the Kill Rock Stars label.

Collaborations