Porl Thompson

Multi-instrumentalist and visual artist, born 8 November 1957, Wimbledon, south London.

Thompson first collaborated with [a73783] as a member of the band known as Malice (1976) and later Easy Cure (1977–78). Following Thompson's departure in April 1978, the group was renamed [a28972]. The first Cure-related release to feature Thompson was the 1979 [a313293] single [m=43984]. Thompson rejoined The Cure in 1984, playing guitar, saxophone and keyboards, and remained a member until 1993. During this period the band's popularity steadily increased, and they released the studio albums [m=21069] (1984), [m=22309] (1985), [m=22500] (1987), [m=31755] (their biggest-selling album) (1989), and [m=32019] (1992).

In 1991 Thompson contributed dulcimer to [a517054]'s [m=366207] album, which also featured former Cure drummer [a=Boris Williams]. In 1994 he played on [m=90611], and toured with Page and Plant in 1995–96. He also contributed to [a27458]'s project [a=Babacar (2)].

Thompson joined The Cure for a third time in 2005, and contributed to the studio album [m=32255] (2008). Following his departure in 2011, he legally changed his Christian name to Pearl. Since then he has worked mainly as a visual artist.

As half of [a1831977] (with designer [a2044271]), Thompson also created many of The Cure's record covers, from 1983 to 1992, and again from 2004 to 2008.

He married Robert Smith's sister, [a1144914], in 1990. They divorced in the late 2000s. Since 2014 he has been married to Dali'esque Thompson.