Catherine Elizabeth Pierson is an American singer, lyricist, and one of the singers and founding members of the B-52's. A multi-instrumentalist, she plays guitar, bass and various keyboard instruments. In the B-52s, she has performed alongside Cindy Wilson, Fred Schneider, Ricky Wilson, and Keith Strickland. In the early years, as well as a vocalist, Pierson was also the main keyboard player and was notable for performing on a keyboard bass during many live shows and many of the band's recordings, taking on a role usually filled by a bass guitar player which differentiated the band from their contemporaries. This along with Pierson's distinctive wide-ranging singing voice remain trademarks of the B-52's unique sound. Pierson has also collaborated with many other artists including The Ramones, Iggy Pop and R.E.M. In February 2015, Pierson released her first solo album, Guitars and Microphones, featuring material co-written by Sia Furler. She later released the non-album single "Better Not Sting the Bee," and on April 15, 2016, she released a cover of "Venus" as a single.
Pierson has collaborated with the following bands and singers:
The Ramones, in the early 1980s on the song "Chop Suey", with Cindy Wilson and Debbie Harry; the title is available as bonus track on the Ramones' re-release CD Pleasant Dreams.
Pierson, Wilson and Strickland were part of the group "Melon" and recorded two songs for a Japanese TV show titled Snakeman Show. The soundtrack LP from 1980 or CD from 1988 was only released in Japan.
Fred Schneider, on his Fred Schneider & the Shake Society solo album from 1984 on songs "Monster," "Summer in Hell," "I'm Gonna Haunt You" and "Boonga ".
Iggy Pop, on the 1990 Top-30 song "Candy".
R.E.M., on the songs "Shiny Happy People", "Near Wild Heaven", "Radio Song", and "Me in Honey" from the 1991 albumOut of Time, and "Fretless" from the 1991 soundtrack Until the End of the World.
With Cindy Wilson on their common cover of the McFadden & Whitehead's song "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now", recorded for the soundtrack The Associate in 1996.
The soundtrack for The Rugrats Movie, released in 1998 contains the track "The World Is Something New To Me" and features Pierson, Schneider and Wilson along with other artists.
"We Are Family", a single released to raise money for the victims of the September 11 attacks, features Pierson and Schneider in the chorus and on the DVD documentation.
Peter Jöback, duet on the song "Sing" from the 2009 album East Side Stories.
David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, on the song "The Whole Man" from the 2010 album Here Lies Love.
She was also a member of the Japanese group NiNa with Yuki Isoya and co-wrote and performed a complete album, with the hit singles "Happy Tomorrow" and "Aurora Tour". The album and singles were only released in Japan. Two songs were used as the ending theme song to the anime Arc the Lad.
Appeared in Blondie's music video for "Mother".
The soundtrack album Phineas and Ferb: Rockin' and Rollin' released in September 2013 features Pierson singing: "Let's Spend Half A Day". The album is only available as download.
One song on DownesBraide Association's 2017 album Skyscraper Souls.
