(Cover) - EN Showbiz - R.E.M. have broken up after 31 years of making music together.

The alternative rock band announced yesterday that they were going their separate ways after decades of touring and releasing hits.

Lead singer Michael Stipe, 51, guitarist Peter Buck, 54, and bassist Mike Mills, 52, have released 15 albums as a group including Murmur, Reckoning, Document, Out of Time, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, Up and Automatic For The People.

"As lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band," the group said in a statement on their official website.

"We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality and of astonishment at all we have accomplished."

Bill Berry, 53, who was the band's original drummer, retired in 1997 after 17 years rocking out with the band.

He went on to become a farmer in Georgia but has come back with the group from time to time for special events.

The band's last album, Collapse Into Now, was released in March of this year.

Rolling Stone reports that the band worked on some new material together in Greece this past summer but it is unknown if the tunes will be released. (C) Cover Media