Michael Stipe will be 65: A look at R.E.M.'s legendary career!

Michael Stipe, the iconic front man of the legendary rock band R.E.M., celebrates his 65th birthday today. Stipe, born in 1960 near Atlanta, Georgia, grew up in various places in the USA and Germany due to his father's military career. He studied in Athens, Georgia, where he made his future bandmates Bill Berry, Peter Buck and Mike Mills and the decision to found R.E.M. met.

The band performed for the first time on April 5, 1980, during a birthday party from a friend in an abandoned church. R.E.M. is often seen as one of the first bands of alternative rock, which set new standards with their characteristic sound and memorable texts. The first single "Radio Free Europe" quickly attracted attention to the band and contributed to their early commercial success.

The career of R.E.M.

With their debut album "Murmur", which was published in 1983, and the successor "Reckoning" (1984) laid the foundation for their fame. The hits like "Losing My Religion" and "Everybody Hurts" were examples of the combination of artistic ambitions with a mass -compatible appeal. In the 1990s, the band showed their courage to innovate with albums like "Monster" (1994) and "New Adventures in Hi-Fi" (1996)

The exit from Bill Berry in 1997 led to a style change within the group. The albums "Up" (1998) and "Reveal" (2001) ensured mixed reactions among fans and critics. But with the last albums "Accelerate" (2008) and "Collapse into Now" (2011) the band returned to their rocking roots.

On September 21, 2011, R.E.M. Surprisingly, their resolution is known after they had sold impressive 80 million recordings. In their career they left 15 studio albums, won several Grammys and were included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. Michael Stipe excluded a reunion of the band and emphasized in 2019 that "the chapter R.E.M. was over". Since then he has turned to other art forms, including photography and sculpture, and published some solo singles who keep his characteristic voice but sound more complex.