R.E.M. Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

R.E.M.

Michael Stipe has shared a first-take demo of a new song called “No Time for Love Like Now.” The track is a collaboration with the National’s Aaron Dessner. Watch the video below.

Former R.E.M. and King Crimson drummer Bill Rieflin has died aged 59, according to his family.

Bill Rieflin, best known as the drummer for Ministry, King Crimson, and R.E.M., has died of cancer, according to his friend and collaborator Robert Fripp. He was 59.

Bill Rieflin, a remarkably versatile drummer whose work over the past 30 years spanned Ministry, R.E.M., Swans, Nine Inch Nails and King Crimson, among many others, has died after a battle with cancer, according to friends and social-media posts from several artists he performed with. He was 59.

Even though he starts off by singing verses from the 1987 hit “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine),” ex-R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe strikes a balanced, cautious-but-optimistic tone with a “4 Coronavirus Rules” public service announcement posted on his website and excerpted on Twitter (below) on Tuesday. First and most important, those rules are: