ROCK legends REM - who performed a memorable gig at Ipswich’s Portman Road - are to split.

The Grammy award winning band have “decided to call it a day”, they announced on their website.

The group, comprising singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills, released their debut album, Murmur, in 1983. Drummer Bill Berry was also in the group but left in 1997.

They performed an outstanding gig at Ipswich Town’s Portman Road, delighting thousands of fans, in July 2005.

The online message said the band members “walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished”.

REM gained a great amount of their success in the 1990s, releasing back-to-back multi-platinum albums and enjoying hits like Losing My Religion and Everybody Hurts.

Their last album, Collapse Into Now, was released in March.