Pearl Jam is an American alternative rock band , currently consisting of Eddie Vedder on lead vocals and guitar, Mike McCready on lead guitar, Stone Gossard on rhythm guitar, Jeff Ament on bass guitar and Matt Cameron on drums and percussion.

The group was formed in Seattle, Washington in 1990 by ex-Mother Love Bone members Gossard and Ament. They were soon joined by McCready and recorded a five-track demo to find the remainder of the band members – plumping for Vedder on vocals and Dave Krusen on drums. They initially choose the band name Mookie Blaylock (after the popular basketball player) but were forced to change it due to trademark concerns upon signing for Epic Records. The eventually settled on the name Pearl Jam, allegedly after Vedder’s great-grandmother Pearl’s famous peyote-laced jam.

The group released their debut album Ten in August 1991. Although a slow burner, the album had reached number two in the charts by late 1992 and went on to sell over ten million copies in the US alone. It also spawned four hit singles, including the UK Top 20 singles Alive and Jeremy – which was nominated for Best Rock Song and Best Hard Rock Performance at the 1993 Grammy Awards – as well as the US Mainstream Rock Tracks chart number three hit Even Flow. The album earned the group two American Music Awards for Best New Artist (in both the Pop/Rock and Heavy Metal/Hard Rock sub-categories).

Since then, Pearl Jam have released a further eight studio albums – Vs., Vitalogy, No Code, Yield, Binaural, Riot Act, Pearl Jam and Backspacer – and scored Hot 100 hits with the singles Daughter, Spin the Black Circle, Who You Are, Given to Fly, Wishlist, Last Kiss (which reached number two in the US charts), Nothing as It Seems/Grievance, I Am Mine, World Wide Suicide, The Fixer and Just Breathe.