Bill Berry

William "Bill" Thomas Berry (born July 31, 1958) was the drummer in alternative rock band R.E.M. for 17 years, before retiring from the group and becoming a farmer.

Early years

Berry was born in Duluth, Minnesota, to Don and Anna - their fifth child. At three years old, Berry moved with his family to Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee, where they would remain for the next seven years. In 1968, they were on the move again, this time to Sandusky, Ohio, on the banks of Lake Erie.

In 1972, the Berry family made their final move, to Macon, Georgia, literally just in time to start high school. It was there that he met bassist Mike Mills, and they played together in several different bands. Their first attempt at a career in music was short-lived. "I graduated high school in 1976 and put down my sticks and sold my drums," he explained^{[citation needed]}. He and Mills decided to make money the way most other people do - by getting a day job. They rented an apartment on Arlington Street in Macon and Bill landed a job at the Paragon booking agency next door.

Berry and Mills moved to Athens, Georgia in 1978, where they met Michael Stipe and Peter Buck.

R.E.M. years (1980-1997)

R.E.M. was thus formed in 1980. By the early 1990s became one of the most acclaimed bands in the world.

Berry was more than simply R.E.M.'s drummer. He regularly contributed elements such as guitar, bass, vocals, keyboards, and piano on studio tracks. In concert he occasionally performed on bass, and suppplied regular backing vocals. Berry also made notable songwriting contributions, the best-known of which is writing most of their intense ballad "Everybody Hurts", as well as their hit "Man on the Moon". Other Berry songs included "Perfect Circle", "Driver 8", and "Find the River". Fittingly, the song "Leave" from R.E.M.'s 1996 album New Adventures in Hi-Fi was also written by Berry, which was his last album with the band.

During 1984 Berry also was drummer for the impromptu Hindu Love Gods, which featured his R.E.M. bandmates Mike Mills and Peter Buck and rocker Warren Zevon.

Berry married his girlfriend of two years, Mari, on March 22, 1986. They divorced eleven years later. He is now the father to a young son. [1]

In 1995, in the Swiss town of Lausanne, Berry collapsed on stage during an R.E.M. show, due to a brain aneurysm. He recovered and rejoined the band, but left in October 1997, saying that he no longer had the drive or enjoyment level to be in the band, and that he wanted a career change. In an MTV interview, he explained: “I didn’t wake up one day and decide, ‘I just can’t stand these guys anymore’ or anything. I feel like I’m ready for a life change. I’m still young enough that I can do something else. I’ve been pounding the tubs since I was nine years old ... I’m ready to do something else. I’m at a point in my life where some of my priorities have shifted. I loved my seventeen years with R.E.M., but I’m ready to reflect, assess, and move on to a different phase of my life. The four of us will continue our close friendship, and I look forward to hearing their future efforts as the world’s biggest R.E.M. fan.”

Acquiescing to Berry's wishes, and relieving him from the guilt of triggering a breakup, R.E.M. announced that it would continue as a three-piece outfit.

Farmer (1998 to present)

Berry thus left the music business and became a farmer, working on his hay farm near Watkinsville, Georgia. He is an avid golfer.

His musical activities after leaving R.E.M. have been very few, but did include recording for the Tourette Syndrome Charity Album Welcome Companions in 2000.

Berry has had several brief reunions with his former bandmates, including one song in an October 2003 concert in Raleigh, North Carolina, several songs at the October 2005 wedding of band roadie DeWitt Burton, and performances at the band's September 2006 induction into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and March 2007 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He also played drums and sang on R.E.M.'s cover of '#9 Dream', a John Lennon cover recorded to benefit Darfur. Nonetheless, Peter Buck and Michael Stipe said that Berry remained firm on his decision to retire from the group.

Prior to the group's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Berry granted his first interview in several years, discussing life after retirement. His son Owen was four years old at the time of publication.[2]

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