Michael Stipe

Michael Stipe lives in Athens, Georgia, and New York City, and is singer/songwriter with the band R.E.M.. Alongside bandmates Mike Mills, Peter Buck, Bill Berry, and manager Bertis Downs, R.E.M. has, since their inception in 1980, released 16 albums, 74 videos, won Grammy, MTV Video Music, and humanitarian awards and has sold upwards of 70 million albums worldwide. The band remain international chart toppers with their last album, Around The Sun charting no. 1 in 9 countries and top 5 in 14 countries. Their work ethic, politics, and musical output have built a business and creative template that has inspired hundreds of other musical groups. Michael and his bandmates are activists who have supported, since 1982, issues of tolerance, race, choice, homelessness, hunger, human rights, AIDS, GLBT, and the environment, and have been involved with, among other groups, Witness, the NRDC, Greenpeace, Oxfam, Amnesty International, the ACLU, DATA, the Motor Voter Bill, the Reebok Human Rights Awards and People for the American Way.

Michael has, since 1987, founded two film production companies: the New York-based C-HUNDRED FILM CORP with producer/director Jim McKay, and the L.A.-based SINGLE CELL PICTURES, with producer Sandy Stern. These companies have led to his being Producer or Executive Producer of over 20 feature films, including the Oscar-nominated "Being John Malkovich," "American Movie,” “Girls Town,” “Saved!,” “Everyday People,” “Velvet Goldmine,” “Stranger Inside,” “Spring Forward,” and the upcoming "Slo-Mo," "Memorial Day" and “The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint”.