William Thomas "Bill" Berry is a retired American musician and
multi-instrumentalist, best known as the drummer for the alternative rock band
R.E.M. In addition to his drumming duties, Berry played many other
instruments including guitar, bass guitar, and piano, both for songwriting
and on R.E.M. records. After 17 years with the band, Berry left the music
industry to become a farmer, and has since maintained a low profile, making
sporadic reunions with R.E.M. and appearing on other artists' records.
Early years William Thomas Berry was born in Duluth,
Minnesota, the fifth child of Don and Anna Berry. 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. In 1972, the Berry family made their
final move, to Macon, Georgia, just in time for Bill 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. He and Mills decided to make money by getting day
jobs. They rented an apartment on Arlington Place 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. Prior to dropping out, Berry studied pre-law at the University
of Georgia. R.E.M. years
R.E.M. was 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". The song "Leave" was also written by
Berry for R.E.M.'s 1996 album New Adventures in Hi-Fi, 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. 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, Peter Buck, and rocker Warren Zevon, and also Bryan Cook.
= On-stage collapse and leaving R.E.M. = In 1995, at the Patinoire Auditorium in
Lausanne, Switzerland, Berry collapsed on stage during an R.E.M. show from a
ruptured 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, he explained on VH-1's Behind
The Music: 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.
Acquiescing to Berry's wishes, R.E.M. announced that it would continue as a
three-piece outfit. They continued to tour with several accompanying
musicians, including long-time sidemen Ken Stringfellow and Scott McCaughey and
employed Joey Waronker and Bill Rieflin as live drummers.
Retirement Berry left the music business and became
a farmer, working on his hay farm in Farmington, Georgia, near Athens.
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.
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." Personal life
In 2003 Berry and his girlfriend, Cybele, had a son, Owen.
Discography = With R.E.M. =
= Without members of R.E.M. = = With Peter Buck and Mike Mills =
= With Peter Buck = = Reunions with R.E.M. =
Performances of the three-piece R.E.M. reunited with their original drummer.
See also Albums produced by Bill Berry
Songs written by Bill Berry References
Source for discography: Marcus Gray – It Crawled from the South ISBN
0-306-80751-3 External links
iZine's interview with Berry from 1994