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John Michael Stipe was born on January 4, 1960, in Decatur, Georgia. Due to his father's military career, the family relocated frequently. In 1980, while studying painting and photography at the University of Georgia, he met Mike Mills, Peter Buck, and Bill Berry. They all left school to form R.E.M., which, with estimated sales exceeding 40 million records, became one of the most popular bands of the late 20th century, rivaling the Irish band U2. Their debut single, "Radio Free Europe" (1981), gained enough attention for R.E.M. to sign with a major label. Under IRS Records, they released Murmur (1983), Reckoning (1984), Fables of the Reconstruction (1985), and Life's Rich Pageant (1986). Document (1987) brought them wider recognition, and Out of Time (1991) propelled them to the top of the charts. The music video for their hit song "Losing My Religion" was recently named one of MTV's top five greatest music videos. Automatic for the People (1992) was a successful follow-up to Out of Time. In 1994, they released Monster, an album with a guitar-driven sound that demonstrated R.E.M.'s ability to embrace grunge. New Adventures in Hi-Fi, recorded largely during soundchecks on the Monster tour, was released in 1996 but achieved only moderate success, as did its follow-up, Up, in 1998. During the 1990s, Michael Stipe shifted his focus toward Hollywood. In the early 1990s, he and Oliver Stone spent over two years attempting to finance a film, but were unsuccessful. His Single Cell film company began to find success in 1999, producing films such as the Oscar-nominated Being John Malkovich (1999).
