Welcome to my Music Diary – today for the 28th October!
Bill Berry (R.E.M.)
On the 28th October 1997, R.E.M. drummer William Thomas „Bill“ Berry announced that he is going to leave the band. In the official announcement he said: „I’ve been playing the drums since age nine. I’m at a point in my life where my priorities have shifted. I loved my 17 years with R.E.M. but I’m ready to … move on to a different phase of my life.“ Berry has been becoming a farmer after his good-bye.
Born on the 31st July 1958, Bill Berry and his friend Mike Mills (Bass) met Michael Stipe (Vocals) and Peter Buck (Guitar) in Athens, Georgia. The four young musicians started playing songs together and on the 5th April 1980 the first performance happened on a friend’s birthday party. Shortly after that the group was baptised R.E.M. and the quartet played more and more concerts and a tour through the Southern United States followed. In summer 1981 the first single „Radio Free Europe“ was released and the initial pressings of one thousand copies were sold quickly. The song is also the opener on the debut album „Murmur“ (1983). Berry’s drumming is also featured on the R.E.M. LPs „Reckoning“ (1984), „Fables of the Reconstruction“ (1985), „Lifes Rich Pageant“ (1986), „Document“ (1987), „Green“ (1988), „Out of Time“ (feat. the megahit „Losing my Religion„)(1991), „Automatic for the People“ (1992), „Monster“ (1994) and „New Adventures in Hi-Fi“ (1996).
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