Bill Berry

William "Bill" Thomas Berry (born July 31, 1958, Duluth, Minnesota) is an American former musician and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the drummer in alternative rock band R.E.M. for 17 years, before retiring from the group and becoming a farmer. Apart from his drumming duties, he played many other instruments including guitar, bass guitar, piano, both for songwriting and on R.E.M. records. After his retirement from the band he has maintained a low profile, making sporadic reunions with R.E.M. and appearing on other artists' records.

Early years
Berry was born in Duluth, the fifth child of Don and Anna. 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 at Mount de Sales Academy. 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. He and Mills decided to make money by getting day jobs. 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.

In addition to his duties as a drummer, Berry contributed occasional guitar, bass, mandolin, vocals, keyboards and piano on studio tracks. In concert, he sometimes performed on bass, and supplied regular backing vocals. Berry also made notable songwriting contributions, particularly for "Everybody Hurts" and "Man on the Moon", both from Automatic for the People. Other Berry songs included "Perfect Circle", "Driver 8", "Cant Get There from Here" and "I Took Your Name". 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.

Berry was also responsible for toning down the lyrics of the song "Welcome to the Occupation". Stipe's original lyric was "Hang your freedom fighters" which, given the Reagan administration's active support for the contra "freedom fighters" in Nicaragua, sounded very violent and militant, although Stipe himself countered that the line could be taken multiple ways ("hang" as in either "lynch" or "frame on a wall"). Berry's objection ultimately led the line to be changed to "hang your freedom higher."

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. They had no children.

In 1995, at the Patinoire Auditorium in Lausanne, Switzerland, Berry collapsed on stage during an R.E.M. show from 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.

Retirement
Berry thus left the music business and became a farmer, working on his hay farm near Watkinsville, Georgia.

His musical activities after leaving R.E.M. have been sporadic, but did include recording for the Tourette Syndrome Charity Album Welcome Companions in 2000. He is also an avid golfer. He is the father to a son, Owen, born 2003.

Berry has had several brief reunions with his former bandmates, including one song on October 10, 2003, concert in Raleigh, North Carolina, several songs at the October 2005 wedding of band roadie DeWitt Burton, and performances in September 2006 at the band's induction into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame (as well as an appearance at an R.E.M. tribute night at the 40 Watt Club in Athens a few days before the induction) and in March 2007 at the 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. "It's a great chance to get back together and perform with R.E.M., which I always loved doing," he said. "This opportunity also does not require me to climb onto (a) bus or plane to do it again and again for several consecutive months."

Reunions with R.E.M.
Performances of the three-piece R.E.M. reunited with their original drummer.