1. Michael Stipe attended the University of Georgia in Athens, where he became involved in the local college rock and jangle pop scene.
42 Facts About Michael Stipe
1. 2.
Bono of U2 has described his voice as "extraordinary", and Yorke told The Guardian that Michael Stipe is his favorite lyricist, saying "I loved the way he would take an emotion and then take a step back from it and in doing so make it so much more powerful".
3.
Michael Stipe was born on January 4,1960, in Decatur, Georgia, to Marianne and John Michael Stipe.
4.
Michael Stipe was a military brat; his father was a serviceman in the United States Army, having served in Korea as a helicopter pilot.
5.
The elder Michael Stipe's career resulted in frequent relocations for his family.
6.
Michael Stipe's younger sister, Lynda Stipe, was born in 1962 and became the vocalist of Hetch Hetchy.
7.
At age 14, Michael Stipe was turned on to punk rock by an article in Creem magazine by Lisa Robinson on the CBGB scene.
8.
The article featured a photo of Patti Smith, whom Michael Stipe came to idolize.
9.
Michael Stipe remembers buying her debut album, Horses, the day it came out.
10.
Michael Stipe confirmed in 2021 that they had no plans to reunite.
11.
Michael Stipe co-produced and featured on their two albums: White Dirt and 8 Track Stomp.
12.
Michael Stipe had planned a collaboration with friend Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana, in 1994; this was partly an attempt to lure Cobain away from his home and his drug addiction.
13.
Michael Stipe was chosen as the godfather of Cobain and Courtney Love's daughter, Frances Bean Cobain.
14.
Michael Stipe was once very close to fellow alternative rock singer Natalie Merchant and has recorded a few songs with her, including one titled "Photograph," which appeared on a pro-choice benefit album titled Born to Choose, and they appeared live with Peter Gabriel singing Gabriel's single "Red Rain" at the 1996 VH1 Honors and a few other times.
15.
In 1998, Michael Stipe published a collection called Two Times Intro: On the Road with Patti Smith.
16.
In 2006, Michael Stipe released an EP that comprised six different cover versions of Joseph Arthur's "In The Sun" for the Hurricane Katrina disaster relief fund.
17.
Also in 2006, Michael Stipe appeared on the song "Broken Promise" on the Placebo release Meds.
18.
Michael Stipe collaborated with Lacoste in 2008 to release his own "holiday collector edition" brand of polo shirt.
19.
Michael Stipe created the soundtrack for The Cold Lands, a film by Michael Stipe's friend director Tom Gilroy.
20.
Michael Stipe inducted the American grunge band Nirvana into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 10,2014.
21.
Michael Stipe debuted his first solo composition at Moogfest in 2017.
22.
In June 2017, it was revealed that Michael Stipe had returned to recording, acting as producer and co-writer for Fischerspooner's single "Have Fun Tonight", the lead single from their album Sir.
23.
Michael Stipe would go on to produce and co-write the entire Sir album, released on February 16,2018.
24.
Michael Stipe released the solo song "Future, If Future" on March 24,2018, followed by "Your Capricious Soul" on October 5,2019.
25.
In 2018, Michael Stipe released a book of his photography entitled Volume 1, which featured 35 photographs of such celebrities as River Phoenix and Kurt Cobain.
26.
Michael Stipe began recording his first solo album at Electric Lady Studios in New York City in 2023, writing and producing "synth-infused, poppy" songs with longtime collaborator Andy LeMaster.
27.
Michael Stipe has made a number of acting appearances on film and on television.
28.
Michael Stipe appeared as a guest on the Cartoon Network talk show spoof Space Ghost Coast to Coast in the episode "Hungry".
29.
Michael Stipe voiced Schnitzel the Reindeer in the 1999 movie Olive, the Other Reindeer and appeared in the 1996 film Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day.
30.
In March 2018, Michael Stipe joined the "March for Our Lives" rallies to advocate gun control after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.
31.
Michael Stipe released a teaser of his new song in the rally.
32.
Michael Stipe endorsed Bernie Sanders' 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.
33.
Michael Stipe expressed solidarity with the people of the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war.
34.
Michael Stipe signed an October 2023 open letter of artists to President Joe Biden urging a ceasefire in Gaza.
35.
Michael Stipe is vegetarian and co-owned a vegetarian restaurant, Guaranteed, in Athens, Georgia.
36.
In 1983, Michael Stipe met Natalie Merchant of the band 10,000 Maniacs; the two started a friendship, and eventually had a romantic relationship for a period of time.
37.
Around 1992, rumors that Michael Stipe had contracted HIV began to circulate.
38.
In 1994, with questions remaining, Michael Stipe described himself as "an equal opportunity lech," and said he did not define himself as gay, straight or bisexual, but that he was attracted to, and had relationships with, both men and women.
39.
Michael Stipe described himself as a "queer artist" in Time in 2001 and revealed that he had been in a relationship with "an amazing man" for three years at that point.
40.
Michael Stipe reiterated this in a 2004 interview with Butt magazine.
41.
Early articles about the band focused on Michael Stipe's singing style, which often rendered his lyrics indecipherable.
42.
Michael Stipe has earned recognition from the music industry for his unique voice.