Ricky Wilson (1953-1985)

Ricky Wilson  (1953-1985)f

Ricky Helton Wilson was born on March 19th, 1953 in Athens, Georgia. He was best known as the original guitarist and founding member of the B-52’s. Ricky, his sister, and a few of their friends founded the group in 1976. The bands unusual sound is credited to Ricky’s unusual guitar tunings amongst other things. He played on a custom guitar with the two middle strings removed for a unique open tuning.  Ricky also worked with Tom Verlaine and appeared in many movies. 

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The B-52's evoked a "thrift shop aesthetic", in the words of Bernard Gendron, by drawing from 1950s and 1960s pop sources, trash culture, and rock and roll. Schneider, Pierson, and Wilson sometimes use call and response style vocals, and their guitar and keyboard-driven instrumentation composes their trademark sound. The band has had many hits, including "Rock Lobster", "Planet Claire", "Private Idaho", "Legal Tender", "Love Shack", and "Roam".

The band's quirky take on the new wave sound of their era was a combination of dance and surf music set apart from their contemporaries by the unusual guitar tunings used by Ricky Wilson and thrift-store chic.

Their first single, "Rock Lobster," recorded for DB Records in 1978, was an underground success, selling over 2,000 copies in total, that led to the B-52's performing at CBGB and Max's Kansas City in New York City. Both this version of "Rock Lobster" and its B-side "52 Girls" are different recordings from those on their first album, and the early version of "52 Girls" is in a different key.

The re-recorded version of "Rock Lobster" was released as a single. In the UK and Germany it was backed with an instrumental version of "Running Around," a non-album track. (A vocal re-recording of this would appear on their second album, Wild Planet.) The buzz created by the record in the UK meant their first show in London at the Electric Ballroom packed, and attended by UK pop stars including Sandie Shaw, Green Gartside from Scritti Politti, Joe Jackson. In Canada, released on the Warner Bros. label, the single went from cult hit to reach the No. 1 position in the RPM-compiled national chart on May 24, 1980.

In 1979, the B-52's signed contracts as they flew over to Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas to record their debut studio album, with Island founder Chris Blackwell producing.The band was surprised by Blackwell's recording methods; he wanted to keep the sound as close as possible to their actual live sound, so he used almost no overdubs or additional effects.

Released on July 6, 1979, The B-52's contained re-recorded versions of "Rock Lobster" and "52 Girls", six originals recorded solely for the album, and a cover of the Petula Clark single "Downtown". The album was a major success, especially in Australia, where it reached number three on the charts alongside its three singles "Planet Claire", "Rock Lobster", and "Dance This Mess Around". In the United States, the single "Rock Lobster" reached the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while the album itself was certified platinum by the RIAA. In 1980, John Lennon called the B-52's his favorite band, and specifically cited "Rock Lobster" as an inspiration for his comeback with Double Fantasy.

In April 1980, The B-52's returned to Compass Point Studios to record their follow-up album. Several of the songs for the new album had been concert staples since 1978; the band consciously did not record them for their first album since they already had too many tracks and they wanted a strong second album, knowing that their live performances would make fans look forward to it. Rhett Davies co-produced the album, with more emphasis put on slick production; the album has a slightly more psychedelic and even paranoid sound than that of their debut.

Released on August 27, 1980, Wild Planet was well received by critics, most of whom regarded it as a strong second album following the success of their first; many fans consider it their best album. The album reached number eighteen on the Billboard 200 chart in 1980 and was certified gold; "Private Idaho" became their second Hot 100 entry. On January 26, 1980, The B-52's performed on Saturday Night Live; they also performed at the Heatwave festival (which was promoted as the "New Wave Woodstock") in Toronto, Canada in August 1980, and appeared in the Paul Simon film One Trick Pony. In July 1981, Party Mix! was released, a six-song collection containing songs from their first two albums remixed and sequenced to form two long tracks, one on each side.

In 1981, the band collaborated with Talking Heads' David Byrne to produce a third full-length studio album. Reportedly due to differences with Byrne over the album's musical direction, recording sessions for the album were aborted, prompting the band to release Mesopotamia in 1982 as an EP. In 1991, Party Mix! and Mesopotamia, the latter of which had been remixed, were combined and released together on a single compact disc. It was also in 1982 that the band appeared at the inaugural US Festival. They performed on the first day of the festival alongside Talking Heads, Oingo Boingo, and The Police.

In December 1982, the band began recording their third album, Whammy!. According to Pierson, Strickland no longer wanted to play the drums, so the band switched to drum machines for this album, with Strickland and Ricky Wilson playing all the music on that album, and the rest of the band providing vocals only. Having originally played guitars, organ, bass guitar and synthesizers, Pierson switched to a mainly vocal role in the studio, but remained behind the keyboards on tour. The band also began experimenting heavily with the synthesizers during this period.

Released on April 27, 1983, Whammy! reached number 29 on the Billboard 200 chart. "Legal Tender" reached the Billboard Hot 100 chart, as well as the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Singles chart alongside "Whammy Kiss" and "Song for a Future Generation". For the Whammy! tour, some tracks featured Strickland on the drums while others used a backing track so that Strickland could come forward and play other parts. This also freed up the vocalists (now sometimes not playing instruments) to perform some simple choreography. Copyright issues with Yoko Ono led to the cover song "Don't Worry" being replaced by "Moon 83" — a rearranged version of "There's a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon)" from their debut album — on future pressings of Whammy!

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