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On March 1, 1995, R.E.M.<\/a> was performing a show at the Patinoire Auditorium in Lausanne, Switzerland, when their drummer Bill Berry collapsed on stage from a ruptured brain aneurysm.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n “I’ve been playing the drums since age nine,” he said in a statement back then (via Rolling Stone<\/em><\/a>). “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.”<\/p>\n 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.”<\/p>\n READ MORE:\u00a0<\/b>When Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones Offered R.E.M. a Key Assist<\/a><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n “I’m not gonna use that as an excuse,” he told CBS Mornings<\/em><\/a> in 2024. “Maybe, it reduced \u2013 maybe, that thing in Switzerland \u2013 brain aneurysm and successful surgery \u2013 it may have lowered my energy level. I was type A, hyperactive until that, and I just didn\u2019t have the drive I once did to do this.”<\/p>\n Berry has noted that he’s felt some regret<\/a> over the years in regards to his decision, but is more than content with his post-R.E.M. life.<\/p>\n “Vacation for me is right here,” he said in a 2019 interview with In Weird Cities<\/em><\/a> 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.”<\/p>\n In 2007, R.E.M. was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame<\/a>, which yielded a reunion performance by all four original members of the band. Not long before that took place, Berry clarified in an interview<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n Berry, it appears, even has his own page on LinkedIn<\/a>, 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.”<\/p>\nDid Bill Berry Ever Regret Leaving the Band?<\/h3>\n
’90s Bands That Deserve More Respect<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n