Music: Rock star out of service – Michael Stipe turns 65

When one of the greatest rock bands in history performed for the first time on April 5, 1980, the occasion was ordinary, but the place was special. REM played their first show at a friend’s birthday in an abandoned church. What followed was a great career spanning more than 30 years – with mega hits like “Losing my Religion”. After their split in 2011, former frontman Stipe turned to other arts. Today he turns 65 years old.

Stipe was born in 1960 near the US city of Atlanta, Georgia. Because of his father’s military career, he grew up in different places in the USA, but also lived in Germany: A photo shows six-year-old Michael in front of the Hanau city coat of arms. Stipe went back to Georgia to study and studied in the city of Athens, where he met Bill Berry, Peter Buck and Mike Mills in the local rock scene and with them made the historic decision to form a band.

Stipe’s trademark voice

REM – named after a sleep phase in which people can dream – quickly attracted attention and soon commercial success after the first single “Radio Free Europe”. A striking feature of the band, in addition to its political orientation, was Stipe’s unmistakable voice and his singing, at least in the early days, which was sometimes perceived as mumbled or mumbled.

With their first albums, including “Murmur” (1983) and “Reckoning” (1984), REM laid the foundation for their reputation as pioneers of alternative rock. With the move to a major label and the release of “Green” (1988) as well as the commercial successes “Out of Time” (1991) and “Automatic for the People” (1992), REM achieved worldwide recognition.

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Hits like “Losing My Religion” and “Everybody Hurts” combined artistic ambitions with mass appeal. Stipe and his colleagues always succeeded in conveying complex topics in a clear way.

Sudden separation

The 90s marked a turning point: with “Monster” (1994) and the experimental “New Adventures in Hi-Fi” (1996), the band continued to demonstrate the courage to innovate. However, Bill Berry’s departure in 1997 led to a change in style. Albums like “Up” (1998) and “Reveal” (2001) polarized fans and critics. With “Accelerate” (2008) and “Collapse into Now” (2011), REM finally returned to their rock roots, but not to the musical excellence of earlier days.

On September 21, 2011, after selling 80 million records, the band unexpectedly announced that they were breaking up. But things differ on good terms, as Stipe and his colleagues emphasized. REM left a legacy of 15 studio albums, won multiple Grammys and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Stipe always ruled out a reunion that fans had always dreamed of: “The REM chapter is over,” he confirmed in a 2019 dpa interview. He himself has long since turned to other art forms, taking photographs and trying his hand at sculpture. But Stipe can’t help it: he has released a few solo singles. They sound different to REM, perhaps a little more complex – but the singer’s voice is still the same on the new songs, to the delight of the fans.

By Editor

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