Fred Schneider

During the late-1970s punk and new wave period, the B-52s emerged as perhaps the leading party band, built around three vocalists: bouffant wig-wearing frontwoman Kate Pierson, Cindy Wilson, and the equally eccentric Fred Schneider. Schneider came into the world on July 1, 1951, in Newark, New Jersey, then headed to Athens, Georgia, in the early 1970s to enroll in college, where he first pursued wildlife conservation, switched to journalism, and finally left without finishing his degree. Schneider, Pierson, Wilson along with her brother and guitarist Rick, and drummer Keith Strickland first crossed paths through the local music community, an encounter Schneider later recalled as occurring at street dances. The ensemble came together in late 1976; after performing at several hometown gatherings, the members began appearing regularly at such New York City venues as CBGB and Max's Kansas City. Although their approach incorporated some hallmarks of the stripped-down punk rock movement, the band forged a wholly distinctive sound by folding in references to trashy 1960s B-movies alongside dance and surf styles.

Warner Bros. signed the five-piece act before the decade closed, and they promptly achieved two major successes with the 1979 self-titled debut and 1980's Wild Planet, both now regarded as enduring rock landmarks. The group navigated difficult stretches through much of the remaining 1980s, including the tragic 1985 death of Rick Wilson from AIDS and the modest commercial returns of Whammy! and Bouncing Off the Satellites, yet rebounded strongly via the 1989 comeback release Cosmic Thing, which yielded the major singles "Love Shack" and "Roam." Three years afterward came their sixth studio album, Good Stuff, after which the band chose to concentrate solely on touring, resulting in a 16-year gap before Funplex appeared in 2008.

Beyond his work with the B-52s, Schneider took roles in films such as 1994's The Flintstones and provided the voice of a newborn for 1998's The Rugrats Movie. The 1990s also brought two solo projects, 1991's Fred Schneider & the Shake Society and the raw, rock-driven Just Fred in 1996, while he contributed guest vocals to tracks by RuPaul, Chicks on Speed, and others. Schneider launched a new side venture in 2008 called the Superions, a witty retro-pop trio formed with Noah Brodie and Dan Marshall. Their debut single, "Totally Nude Island," surfaced that same year, followed by the eight-song EP The Superions in 2010; later in 2010 the holiday album Destination...Christmas! arrived, and the single "Batbaby" appeared in 2011. Schneider and the Superions issued their second full-length album, Vertical Mind, in 2017.