On March 1, 1995, R.E.M. was performing a show at the Patinoire Auditorium in Lausanne, Switzerland, when their drummer Bill Berry collapsed on stage from a ruptured brain aneurysm.
As terrifying as the incident was, Berry made a full recovery and rejoined the band, but approximately two and a half years later, he made the choice to leave R.E.M. for good.
“I’ve been playing the drums since age nine,” he said in a statement back then (via Rolling Stone). “I’m at a point in my life where my priorities have shifted. I loved my 17 years with R.E.M. but I’m ready to…move on to a different phase of my life.”
It was emphasized then that there was no bad blood between Berry and his former bandmates, with their statement reading: “the band wants to stress that this is an entirely amicable situation among four very good friends.”
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As for those shifted priorities, Berry switched gears to something quieter and began working full time on his hay farm in Farmington, Georgia, and since then has maintained a very low profile. The aneurysm itself wasn’t the exact cause for Berry’s departure from R.E.M., but instead something of a catalyst.
“I’m not gonna use that as an excuse,” he told CBS Mornings in 2024. “Maybe, it reduced – maybe, that thing in Switzerland – brain aneurysm and successful surgery – it may have lowered my energy level. I was type A, hyperactive until that, and I just didn’t have the drive I once did to do this.”
Did Bill Berry Ever Regret Leaving the Band?
Berry has noted that he’s felt some regret over the years in regards to his decision, but is more than content with his post-R.E.M. life.
“Vacation for me is right here,” he said in a 2019 interview with In Weird Cities podcast, speaking from his home in Georgia. “I spent enough time in airports and in vans and on buses. I kind of like sitting still for a while. Still haven’t grown tired of that.”
In 2007, R.E.M. was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which yielded a reunion performance by all four original members of the band. Not long before that took place, Berry clarified in an interview that he never fully abandoned playing music or writing songs, only that being famous and living life in such a rigorous way was not for him.
“My home contains a piano, a few guitars and a rarely played set of drums,” he said. “I enjoy playing the stringed instruments and, occasionally, a new song will reveal itself.”
Berry, it appears, even has his own page on LinkedIn, the career networking website, where it notes that he’s been retired from being a professional musician since 1997. Now, it says, he likes to “split time between [the] farm, golf at the beach, recording and production gigs [and] do the occasional live show with friends.”
