R.E.M. to be inducted into Georgia Music Hall of Fame
By Julie Phillips | | Story updated at 10:47 PM on Tuesday, April 4, 2006
R.E.M. this year joins the class of inductees in the 2006 Georgia Music Hall of Fame.
Members Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, along with fellow founding member and former drummer Bill Berry - who amicably parted ways with the band in 1997 to pursue a quieter life - will attend the induction ceremony Sept. 16 in Atlanta, the band's manager, Bertis Downs, said Tuesday.
"We're very pleased and honored," Downs said, noting today is the 26th anniversary of the band, which famously played its first show in an old church on Oconee Street.
The band, including Berry, made a rare Athens appearance Saturday, taking the stage at the Georgia Theatre during the intermission of a set by The Minus Five - the band in which Buck plays alongside guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Scott McCaughey and drummer Bill Rieflin, who are regulars on tour and in the studio with R.E.M. Reuniting for a song, R.E.M. played "Country Feedback" from 1991's "Out of Time," with Mills on keyboard and Berry on bass, according to the band's Web site.
R.E.M. will be inducted into the Hall of Fame under the group category.
Other inductees include, in the performer category, Gregg Allman, lead singer, organist and songwriter for the Allman Brothers Band.
The non-performer group includes Columbus-born Dallas Austin, who has produced more than 50 hit singles with the likes of Aretha Franklin, George Clinton, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Usher, Pink, Gwen Stefani and more, and in 2000 won a Grammy for producing the top R&B Album, "FanMail," by TLC. Austin also has produced several films, including "The ATL," which is currently in theaters.
In the songwriter category, the nominee is Atlanta-based music mogul Jermaine Dupri, who produced Usher's 2004 blockbuster album "Confessions," which sold more than 9 million copies and earned the Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Album. Dupri also produced Mariah Carey's comeback, "The Emancipation of Mimi," which sold more than 5 million copies and earned four nominations and three awards at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards.
In the posthumous category, the inductee is Felice Bryant, who was born in Milwaukee but settled in Moultrie with her songwriting teammate and husband, Boudleaux Bryant, a 1982 Georgia Music Hall of Fame inductee.
The Bryants are perhaps most famous for their partnership with the Everly Brothers in which they wrote such legendary hits as "Bye Bye Love" and "Wake Up Little Susie" as well as "Raining In My Heart," which was eventually recorded by Buddy Holly during his final recording session in 1958.
The Bryants also penned "Rocky Top," adopted as Tennessee's state song in 1982. Felice Bryant died in 2003 at the age of 77.
Hall of Fame awards
Tickets are available now for the 28th Annual Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards Banquet and include an invitation to the Governor's Reception, dinner and an evening of music and entertainment. Individual seats or tables of 10 are available. Prices range from $75 to $100 for individual seats and from $750 to $1,000 for tables. For more information, call (770) 934-0906.
