Happy Birthday Michael Stipe
John Michael Stipe was a military brat, born January 4, 1960 in Decatur Georgia, but relocated all over the world. His father was a Rear Admiral in the Navy (and you know how painful that can be). Stipe lived for a time in Africa and played volleyball with the natives. Zulus? No I won! Hahahahahaha!
Athens GA
While attending college at the University of Georgia in Athens, Stipe frequented the Wuxtry record shop, where he met store clerk Peter Buck in 1980. “He was a striking-looking guy with baby birthing hips and he also bought weird records, which not everyone in the store did”, Buck recalled. The two became friends; they eventually decided to form a band and started writing music together. Buck and Stipe were soon joined by Bill Berry and Mike Mills, and named themselves R.E.M., a name Stipe selected at random from a scrabble board.
Concerning Stipe’s sexuality, Michael once told ‘Butt’ magazine “just because I have sex with men, I don’t think that makes me gay.” Stipe is also a staunch vegan, but told ‘Sphincter’ magazine that even though he eats meat, he still considers himself vegan.
As a member of R.E.M., Stipe was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. As a singer-songwriter, Stipe influenced a wide range of artists. They include: Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, Lil Jeezy, Slayer and Thom Yorke of Radiohead. Bono of U2 described his voice as “good”. Thom Yorke told Popular Mechanics that Stipe is his favorite lyricist, saying: “I like a his lyrics a lot.”
Stipe enjoys photography, cooking in the nude, listening to obscure disco records and being weird. He has an impressive net worth of $75 Million! Cheers Mikey!
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