Biography

An American musician and founder, vocalist, and songwriter for popular hard rock/heavy metal outfit Ratt, Stephen Pearcy jet-rocketed to multi-platinum success in the mid-'80s with the band, releasing a string of gold and multi-platinum albums like Out of the Cellar, Invasion of You Privacy, and Dancing Undercover. Multiple hiatuses and lineup changes resulted in Pearcy fronting a slew of other groups in the '90s and early aughts, including Arcade, Vicious Delite, and Vertex. He made his solo debut in 2002 with Social Intercourse and then continued to release material under his own name, with highlights arriving in the form of 2008's Under My Skin and 2018's View to a Thrill. Pearcy's long-running career began in Los Angeles during the early '80s, fronting the glam-metal band Ratt, which released its self-titled debut independently in 1983, just as the so-called hair metal scene was gaining momentum, led by such bands as Mötley Crüe and Quiet Riot. Like those bands, Ratt was both flamboyant and rebellious, and Pearcy's distinctive vocals helped the band stand out among its many peers. Atlantic Records recognized Ratt's potential and signed the group to a contract, resulting in the 1984 album Out of the Cellar, which became a mammoth success, led by the pop-metal hit "Round and Round." In subsequent years, Ratt continued to release successful albums and perform sold-out shows, yet when the hair metal scene withered away in the early '90s -- and the band with it -- Pearcy decided to start anew. His new venture, Arcade (1993-1994), didn't sound much different than Ratt, and he soon found himself starting over once again with the industrial metal band Vertex (1996), and yet again with the straightforward metal band Vicious Delite (2000) after a short-lived Ratt reunion in 1997. He began his own label, Top Fuel, aligned it with the L.A.-based Triple X label, and began issuing archival material such as Before and Laughter (2000), a collection of odds and ends from his past. He followed with the pop-metal gem Social Intercourse in 2002, his first proper solo album. He took a decidedly different musical direction with 2005's Fueler, which sounded more akin to alternative metal bands such as Godsmack. The all-acoustic album Stripped arrived in 2006, followed in 2008 by Under My Skin, which featured a guest spot from the Donnas. Ratt returned in 2010 with the release of Infestation, the first studio album from the group since 1999. Pearcy's fourth solo LP, Smash, was issued in 2017 on Frontiers Records, with View to a Thrill arriving just one year later. 2022 saw Pearcy release Overdrive, a compilation of re-recordings of Ratt songs, solo tunes, and material from his time with Arcade. ~ Jason Birchmeier, Rovi