Michael Stipe Charity Single; January 2006
For Immediate Release
R.E.M.’S MICHAEL STIPE TEAMS WITH COLDPLAY’S CHRIS MARTIN TO RAISE AWARENESS OF THE CONTINUED PLIGHT OF HURRICANE KATRINA SURVIVORS
NEW SONG “IN THE SUN” WILL PREMIERE DURING SUPERBOWL SUNDAY EPISODE OF ABC’S GREY’S ANATOMY ON FEBRUARY 5TH
SHORT FILM “IN THE SUN” WILL AIR ON SUNDANCE CHANNEL THIS SPRING
January 2006 — Burbank, CA — Michael Stipe will release a charity single entitled “In the Sun,” which the R.E.M. singer hopes will remind the public about the continued suffering of survivors of Hurricane Katrina. The song, a duet with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, will be made available for digital download exclusively through iTunes in February. All proceeds will go directly to aid those affected by the August tragedy.
“The news cycle has moved on and I don’t want the public to forget about those who were affected by Katrina or to believe that everything is fine now,” says Stipe, a Georgia native with family roots in the Gulf region. “Things are not fine. The storm is still impacting people’s lives in very real ways and many have been left desperate. I want to remind each of us that as humans, and certainly as Americans, it is our responsibility to help those in need.”
To that end, Stipe chose to cover a powerful, anthemic ballad written by singer/songwriter Joseph Arthur, whom he became aware of through R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck. “The first time Joseph and I spoke, he was in New Orleans,” Stipe says, “and I had to call a New Orleans number to reach him to have that first conversation. When I saw what happened with Katrina, ‘In the Sun’ came to mind. He writes from a very deep, intuitive place.”
When it came time to record, it wasn’t hard for Stipe to recruit the artists who participated in the project, including Justin Timberlake and Will.I.Am from Black Eyed Peas, who contribute a remix that will also be available for download. Also involved were Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger, who plays piano, and former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, who produced the track with Stipe and Arthur at Stratosphere Sound studio in New York City last summer.
In addition to the single’s release, a short film, also entitled “In the Sun,” will air on the Sundance Channel in early March. It features interviews with Stipe, Martin, Arthur, Will.I.Am, and Iha, historian Douglas Brinkley, hurricane survivors still trying to pick up the pieces of their lives, and many of the volunteers trying to help them do it. The film, which was directed by noted photographer and Grammy-nominated video director Danny Clinch, also includes original footage of the current state of the devastation shot over three days in early January. It was produced by cYclops LLC and 3 on the Tree Productions for Stipe’s In the Sun Foundation and made possible by the Sundance Channel.
Wanting to do his part to help residents of the Gulf Coast was natural for the Decatur, Georgia-born Stipe. Not only has R.E.M spent a lot of time in New Orleans, but the band’s most beloved and best-selling album, Automatic For the People, was recorded there. “It’s a city that has its own legend,” he says. “It’s a unique place, not only to this country but to the world. I had to do something as a Southerner. I had to do something as a public figure. The one thing I can do is sing, and it’s probably the best way to get people to pay attention.”
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