Porl Thompson

Pearl Thompson (born 8 November 1957 as Paul Stephen Thompson) is an English musician and artist. Thompson is best known as a member of the English alternative rock band The Cure from 1983–1994 and 2006–2010, credited as Porl Thompson and playing mainly guitar with occasional keyboards and saxophone. During and after The Cure, Thompson was active with a few other bands and projects but has since retired from music and turned to painting.

Thompson was a member (alongside Robert Smith, Michael Dempsey and Lol Tolhurst) of the Easy Cure, which was a precursor to The Cure. Thompson left Easy Cure to go to art college; his style did not mesh well with Smith's approach to songwriting. Thompson went on to become a member of The Exotic Pandas and occasionally played with The Glove, a collaboration between Smith and Steven Severin of Siouxsie and the Banshees. Thompson rejoined his bandmates in The Cure in 1983, initially playing saxophone on several tracks that would appear on the group's 1984 album, The Top. During the Top tour, he expanded his instrumental contributions to include keyboard as well as guitar, also continuing to perform with The Glove when they appeared on television. Over time, Thompson became known principally as a guitarist in the band, and is sometimes seen as the most technically proficient musician in the band's history after Reeves Gabrels.

In 1994, Thompson left The Cure to play with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin during the Page and Plant tour of 1995. He also played with Babacar, a band formed by long-time Cure drummer Boris Williams. Later, Thompson formed another project called Quietly Torn. Thompson continued working with Plant, joining the singer's group for the 2002 release Dreamland.

In June 2005 Thompson rejoined The Cure, and was with the band for the recording of the live DVD The Cure: Festival 2005; for the recording of the band's 13th studio album, 4:13 Dream; and for the band's 2007–2008 4Tour.

In 2007, Schecter Guitars released a Pearl Thompson Signature model featuring graphics by the British artist Kev Grey. The guitar was featured in the book 108 Rock Star Guitars by photographer Lisa S. Johnson.