April 21, 2011 19:34

R.E.M. announce their split

The band call it a day after 31 years

Photo: PA

REM have announced their split.

After 31 years in the music industry, the band – made up of Michael Stipe, Mike Mills and Peter Buck – have revealed that they will no longer be making music together.

Formed alongside original drummer Bill Berry in 1980 in Athens, Georgia, the legendary alt.rockers have released a statement regarding their decision. It reads:

To our Fans and Friends: As REM, and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening.

The band released their 15th album, ‘Collapse Into Now’, earlier this year, which followed 2008’s ‘Accelerate’.

REM’s breakthrough record ‘Out Of Time’ – which featured the hit singles ‘Losing My Religion’ and ‘Shiny Happy People’ - was released in 1991 and saw the band become globally acclaimed. It was followed a year after by ‘Automatic For The People’, which, like ‘Out Of Time’, was Number One on the UK Albums Chart.

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