Ricky Wilson
- jamesgeraghty
- 9 minutes ago
- 7 min read
Last weekend (12 October) saw the fortieth anniversary of the passing of one of the founding members of just about the funnest band to ever walk this planet.
And, as a mark of respect, we are using that person as the starting link on our (very) occasional wander along Six Degrees Of Kevin Shields. As ever, if we get six links in, it will be more by luck than judgement - because it is all about the journey; the musical meandering from our starting point, along many random routes, before ending with the King of Shoegaze - Mr Kevin Shields.
So, today we remember Ricky Wilson - guitarist, songwriter and founder of Athens, Georgia’s original great band, The B-52s.
Born in 1953, Wilson became good friends with Keith Strickland in 1969, bonding over a love of music and soon forming their very first band, Loon, which then became Black Narcissus. Graduating from the University of Georgia, the pair then went on a trip around Europe. It was 1976 when they returned to Athens, joining a band including Ricky’s younger sister Cindy Wilson, along with Kate Pierson and Fred Schneider. The B-52s were born.
The B-52s: Rock Lobster (Official music video)
Wilson had long since come out to Strickland, but the 70s and 80s were different times and he never made it any more public than that. But in 1983, as the band were recording their third album Whammy! Wilson discovered he had contracted AIDS. The stigma associated with that disease at the time, along with a desire not to cause any fuss, meant that he still did not reveal his illness or sexuality, even to his bandmates.
By 1985 though, he was getting really sick as they started on the next record, Bouncing Off The Satellites. He had to reveal the truth, but by then he was nearing the end - which sadly came on 12 October 1985 - Ricky Wilson was just 32, another tragic victim of HIV. His bandmates were understandably devastated. The album hadn’t even been finished, and when it did get its release, they offered no fanfare, no promotion and certainly no follow up tour. It wasn’t until 1989 that they felt ready to embrace the music again - roaring back with the massive Cosmic Thing (Love Shack, Roam etc.). RIP 40 years on Ricky!
The B-52s: Dance This Mess Around (Live, Passaic, 1980)
In his all too brief musical career, Ricky Wilson only ever played on one recording that wasn’t The B-52s. In 1979, he guested on the eponymously titled debut album by Television frontman, Tom Verlaine. He played guitar on the last track, Breakin’ My Heart. Verlaine had together a band that included his former bandmate Fred Smith on bass (who had also been in early versions of Blondie - jumping ship to replace Richard Hell in Television), and Jay Dee Daugherty on drums.
Tom Verlaine: Breakin' My Heart (audio only)
Jay Dee Daugherty had moved to New York City from California in 1974, soon forming The Mumps. But, after a brief spell as the sound man for the band, he formally joined the Patti Smith Group in 1975. His other projects have been various, working with the likes of Billy Idol, Mark Knopfler, Richard Lloyd (also ex-Television) and Joey Ramone. When Patti Smith had to take a hiatus from performing after injuring herself in a fall from the stage, Daugherty helped infamous music critic Lester Bangs form a band.
A chance jamming session with Mike Scott, led to the New Yorker relocating to Galway, Ireland, where Scottish born Scott now had his band, The Waterboys, holed up working on fourth LP, Fisherman’s Blues. Daugherty joined in for some of these Galway sessions and some of that work ended up in the final product, although in the end, five drummers were credited for the thirteen tracks on it.
In 1989, the band went out on tour in support of Fisherman’s Blues, with a line up of Scott, Daugherty, Steve Wickham, Anthony Thistlethwaite, Trevor Hutchinson, Vinnie Kilduff and Roddy Lorimer - joined by whistle player Colin Blakey and singer Tomas Mac Eoin. Daugherty’s tenure was short lived though, and by that summer he was out and Noel Bridgman was in.
The Waterboys: Jimmy Hickey's Waltz (audio only - I think the only album track Daugherty appears on)
One early stalwart of The Waterboys was Karl Wallinger. Although the Welshman would go on to be the man behind World Party, he actually started out in Prestatyn band, Quasimodo. That didn’t last long, but it also included Dave Sharp and Nigel Twist, who go on to team up with Mike Peters to form The Alarm.
Moving to London, Wallinger got a job working for a music publisher, whilst playing keyboards for Peter Straker, before becoming the musical director of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. But in 1983, he joined The Waterboys, persuading Scott that they needed a keyboard player rather than another guitarist. He made some contribution to second album A Pagan Place, but Scott saw his talent and gave him a more prominent role in the next record, This Is The Sea. He was a key player in the evolution of The Waterboys most famous song, The Whole Of The Moon.
But the band wasn’t big enough for two creative types though, and in 1985, Wallinger left to work on music for what would become World Party. While they had a handful of hits (Ship Of Fools, Is It Like Today?), the line-up fluxed many times, with Wallinger being the only ever-present, right up to his death last year. One such member was Guy Chambers, the musician, writer and producer who went on to work with many big acts, including Robbie Williams (who covered Wallinger’s She’s The One) - but there was also Amanda Kramer (10,000 Maniacs, Psychedelic Furs), Jeff Trott (Sheryl Crow) and Chris Sharrock (Oasis, High Flying Birds, Icicle Works).
World Party: She's The One (Live on Jools Holland, 1997)
Chris Sharrock’s career has certainly been varied, with the Merseyside drummer playing with a huge range of northwestern England’s music legends of the last 40+ years. Starting out with Liverpool’s most unsung legends, The Icicle Works - he drummed on The La’s big hit, There She Goes, before teaming up with ex-Teardrop Explodes member, Paul SImpson, for an album with his band The Wild Swans. There was a stint in Ian Broudie’s Lightning Seeds, before a mammoth eight year spell in Robbie Williams’ band. He then got the gig on (at the time) Oasis last tour in 2008/09 - hanging around after the split to join Liam Gallagher’s Beady Eye for two records. He quite probably caused some brotherly upset, when he moved over to work in Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. He was apparently offered the drum stool for the 2025 Oasis reunion tour, but for reasons unknown, declined it.
The Icicle Works: Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream) (Live on BBC, 1983)
Paul Simpson was a key player on the blossoming Liverpool scene of the late 1970s and early 80s - even if you do not know his name, you will likely know many of the people he worked with over the years. He had been in a punk band called Psycho Mesh, before joining up with his old school mate (and future Bunnyman) Will Sergeant in Industrial Domestic. Then there was his bedsit collaboration with Ian McCulloch, Julian Cope and others in a collective called A Shallow Madness. While McCulloch ended up with Sergeant in Echo & The Bunnymen, the rest of the group transformed into Teardrop Explodes.
The Wild Swans: Melting Blue Delicious (interesting video)
The Teardrop Explodes name comes from a caption in the Marvel strip Daredevil (No. 77 if you need to know). The band gigged hard, establishing them on the local scene, soon getting signed to Liverpool’s Zoo Records. First single Sleeping Gas came out in February 1979, but Simpson’s stage presence was matching that of Cope’s - and as ever in these situations, there wasn’t room for both of them, and following mutual agreement, Simpson left. The Wild Swans came next, but only managed one single in their first two year run (the last single released by Zoo). Despite getting a couple of Radio 1 sessions, the band split in spring 1982. Then there was Care with another LIverpool legend, Ian Broudie, before getting the Wild Swans back together in the mid to late 80s.
The Teardrop Explodes: Sleeping Gas (audio - original single version with Simpson)
Zoo Records had been formed in 1978 by David Balfe (future Teardrop’s) and Bill Drummond (future KLF). They were initially primarily set up to release songs by Big In Japan, a band better known for their former members than their music - including Broudie, Holly Johnson (FGTH), Budgie (the Banshees) and Clive Langer (producer - Madness, Elvis Costello, Dexy’s). There were a few singles by the Bunnymen, the Teardrop’s and Wild Swans, before the label ended in 1982.
Back to Teardrop Explodes, who are linked heavily through much of the second half of this piece. The aforementioned Paul Simpson, as well as briefly being in A Shallow Madness and Teardrop Explodes with Julian Cope, also once lived in a flat (with Pete De Freitas, another Bunnyman) that had been vacated by Cope. Cope also has a younger brother, Joss, who apparently at some point around 1989/90, leant his guitar out. As the grateful recipient later noted, “It took me three months into the record to get a decent [Fender] Jaguar guitar. I was borrowing one from Julian Cope’s brother.”
Joss Cope: Learn To Float (official music video)
The record in question was Loveless, by My Bloody Valentine, which means that the grateful recipient was, of course, KEVIN SHIELDS….
That is perhaps one of my most tenuous links yet - I thank you!
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