Today in Music History: A Birthday for R.E.M.'s Bill Berry
July 31, 2015
Birthday Highlight:
Bill Berry, former R.E.M. drummer, is 57 today. He was born in Duluth, Minn., in 1958; after a couple of childhood moves, Berry's family settled in Macon, Ga., just before Berry started high school. It was while he was attending high school in Macon that Berry met Mike Mills>. The two eventually attended the University of Georgia in Athens, where they met Michael Stipe and Peter Buck; the four would form R.E.M. in 1980. Berry retired from the band in 1997 after suffering a brain aneurism onstage in 1995, and has since maintained a low profile, working as a farmer in Georgia. He occasionally played gigs with his old band, however, last performing with them in 2007 at R.E.M.'s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After Berry's departure, R.E.M. never hired a full-time replacement, continuing as a three-piece until their disbanding in 2011.
Also, Today In:
1951 - Ray Charles got married for the first time. His bride was Eileen Williams, a beautician from Chicago. Their union lasted just one year.
1955 - Elvis Presley performed at Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in Tampa, Fla., after which a full-scale riot broke out when Elvis announced to the 14,000 strong crowd, "Girls, I'll see you backstage." Fans chased Elvis into the dressing room, tearing off his clothes and shoes.
1968 - Working at Trident studios in London, The Beatles recorded four takes of a new Paul McCartney song, "Hey Jude."
1969 - Making his first live concert appearance since March 25, 1961, Elvis played the International Hotel in Las Vegas, the first of 57 shows that would help revive his career and earn him $1.5 million.
1971 - James Taylor went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with the Carole King song "You Got A Friend," (included on her album Tapestry and on Taylor's album Mud Slide Slim). The song would go on to win the 1971 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal male Performance and Song Of The Year.
1982 - Survivor's Eye Of The Tiger was at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart. The song, which was commissioned by actor Sylvester Stallone as the theme for the movie Rocky III, received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song and went on to sell more than five million copies.
1992 - Michael Jackson made an unscheduled appearance on his hotel balcony in London after a man threatened to jump from an apartment building across the street. Twenty-eight-year-old Eric Herminie told police he would leap to his death if he didn't see Jackson, who was in Britain for a series of concerts. Jackson spent a couple of minutes waving to Herminie, who then climbed back into the building.
1999 - Christina Aguilera scored her first U.S. No. 1 single with "Genie In A Bottle." The song spent five weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. chart and won Aguilera the Best New Artist Grammy for the year.
2012 - Appearing at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium in Finland's capital city, Bruce Springsteen played his longest concert ever, clocking in at four hours, six minutes.
Birthdays:
Ahmet Ertegun, the pioneering Atlantic Records exec who championed aritsts like the Drifters and Ray Charles, was born today in 1923.
Gary Lewis of Gary Lewis and the Playboys is 69.
Daniel Ash of Love and Rockets is 58.
Norman Cook — aka Fatboy Slim — is 52.
Jim Corr of the Corrs is 51.
Coldplay drummer Will Champion is 37.