Fred Schneider III American musician, frontman and founder of the rock band 'The B-52's' Date of Birth: 01.07.1951 Country: USA

Biography of Fred Schneider

Fred Schneider, the American musician, frontman, and founder of the rock band 'The B-52's', was born on July 1, 1951, in Newark, New Jersey. Despite growing up, Schneider did not initially aspire to become a musician. In an interview, he mentioned that his musical influence as a child was limited to Halloween and Christmas songs.

During college, Schneider wrote a book of poems for his graduation student project. After completing his education, he worked as a security guard, janitor, and delivered food to those in need.

In 1976, Schneider founded a new wave rock band called 'The B-52's' in Athens, Georgia. The band consisted of Schneider as the drummer and vocalist, Cindy Wilson as the vocalist, Kate Pierson on keyboards and vocals, Keith Strickland on drums, and Ricky Wilson, Cindy's brother, on guitar. Unfortunately, Ricky Wilson passed away in 1985 due to AIDS. The band started with a new wave and 60s rock and expanded into various genres such as post-punk, pop-rock, disco, and funk. They combined their musical style with theatricality and a retro-inspired appearance. The name 'The B-52's' is a reference to the popular 1950s women's hairstyles that Cindy and Kate have maintained throughout the years.

In addition to being the frontman of 'The B-52's', Schneider released two solo albums, 'Fred Schneider & the Shake Society' and 'Just Fred'. Apart from playing the drums, Schneider also plays the bells and xylophone. Currently, he dedicates much of his time to his other project called 'The Superions', an electronic music group. Their debut single, 'Totally Nude Island', was released on October 31, 2008, on the iTunes Store. Their third single, 'Who Threw That Ham At Me', was available for download starting in November 2009. The group is currently working on a full-length album consisting of Christmas songs and verses performed on Halloween.

Since late 2008, Schneider has been hosting the radio show 'Party Out Of Bounds' on Sirius 22 First Wave, a radio station specializing in new wave and alternative rock. In his program, Schneider features mixes of new wave and dance music, remixes, and rarities, interspersed with his own anecdotes and comedic segments.

Schneider is also known for his poetry. In the mid-1970s, he personally transcribed around 100 copies of his poetry book titled 'Bleb'. In 1987, his collection of poems, titled 'Fred Schneider and Other Projects', was published by Arbor House. The book, with illustrations by Kenny Scharf, the same artist who worked on 'The B-52's' album cover for 'Bouncing Off the Satellites', was released in a paperback edition with a print run of 6,000 copies.

Furthermore, Schneider's compositions have served as soundtracks for 25 films and TV series. He has also appeared in small roles in seven movies. His latest film, 'Each Time I Kill', was released in 2007.