Roam if you want to, but if you’re looking for the B-52s they’ll be on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
A star for the new wave dance-rock band will be unveiled in a ceremony Thursday featuring members Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Cindy Wilson and Keith Strickland. The events is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Thursday in front of Amoeba Music.
Members of the Go-Gos and comedian Fred Armisen were expected to speak at the ceremony.
The star ceremony comes one day before the band performs at the North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre in Chula Vista and two days before concluding The Cosmic De-Evolution Tour at the Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert.
The band was formed on an October night in 1976 following drinks at an Athens, Georgia Chinese restaurant and played their first gig at a friend’s house on Valentine’s Day 1977. Naming themselves after Southern slang for exaggerated bouffant hairdos, the newly-christened B-52’s — Schneider, Pierson, Strickland, Cindy Wilson and her older brother, Ricky Wilson — soon began weekend road trips to New York City for gigs at CBGB and a handful of other venues.
The band released its first single, “Rock Lobster,” in 1978 and its first album, “The B-52’s,” in July 1979. The album sold more than 1 million copies, earning certification as platinum by the trade organization the Recording Industry Association of America.
Each of The B-52’s’ next two albums, “Wild Planet,” released in 1980, and “Whammy!” released in 1983, were certified as gold.
Their fifth album, “Cosmic Thing,” released in 1989, was their top seller, with more than 4 million copies sold, earning quadruple platinum certification. It rose to fourth on the Billboard 200 chart.
The sixth of their seven studio albums, “Good Stuff,” released in 1992, was certified as gold. Their latest studio album, “Funplex,” was released in 2008.
The B-52s received their first Grammy nomination in 1990 for best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals for the single “Love Shack.” Their next nomination came the following year in the same category for the single in the “Roam.”
Their third and most recent nomination came in 1993 for best alternative music album for “Good Stuff.”
Guitarist Ricky Wilson died of complications from AIDS in 1985 at the age of 32. He was succeeded as the lead guitarist by Strickland, who had been the drummer.