Pierson was born on August 2, 1970. He worked at
Amoeba Music in
Berkeley, California for 10 years. He was a member of
Subtle and
13 & God. In 2005, he was seriously injured and left paralyzed from the chest down when the Subtle tour van hit a patch of black ice in
Iowa. No one else in the vehicle was seriously injured. His musician friends and promoters subsequently organized a series of tribute shows and benefit albums. In 2009, he sued
Ford Motor Company for faulty design mechanics, arguing that the defective seat contributed to his life-threatening injuries. A federal court jury awarded him $18.3 million ($12.3 million for medical expenses and lost earnings and $6 million for pain and suffering). He released
Live in Oakland on Ratskin Records in 2019. In 2021, he released
Nerve Bumps (A Queer Divine Dissatisfaction); his first solo studio album for fifteen years. The album's title partly inspired by a quote from dancer
Martha Graham. Some of the album's themes touch on his recovery from his 2005 accident. The album's track
For The Angels was included on
The Wire magazine's compilation for April 2021. Pierson died in Oakland, California on December 30, 2024, at the age of 54. ==Discography==