"Oh, I will dine on honey dew and drink the milk of Paradise"- Neil Peart
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Geddy
Lee (born Gary Lee Weinrib - July 29, 1953) is a Canadian
musician and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and
keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush. Lee joined Rush in
September 1968, at the request of his childhood friend and guitarist
Alex Lifeson.
An award-winning musician, Lee’s style, technique,
and skill on the bass guitar have inspired many rock musicians. In
addition to his composing, arranging, and performing duties for Rush,
Lee has released a solo record, My Favourite Headache, in 2000.
Along with his Rush bandmates, guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer Neil
Peart, Lee was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on May 9, 1996.
The band also received the highest artistic honor in Canada by the
Governor General in 2012, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame in 2013. He was also given an honorary doctorate of Music in
2014 by Nipissing University. Lee supports many causes through personal
and band donations. He is known as an avid baseball fan and wine
connoisseur. Lee has been married to Nancy Young for over 35 years and
they have 2 children.
Alex
Lifeson (born Aleksandar Živojinović - August 27, 1953) is a
Canadian musician, best known as the guitarist of the Canadian rock band
Rush. In the summer of 1968, Lifeson co-founded the band that would
become Rush with former drummer John Rutsey.
In early 1971,
Lifeson made his film debut as himself under his birth name in the
Canadian documentary film Come on Children by Allan King. The film
enjoyed a resurgence when decades later a clip was featured in the
documentary Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage, that featured Alex having a
teenage argument with his parents on the merits of leaving high school
to pursue his dream to play guitar as a career.
For Rush, Lifeson
plays electric and acoustic guitars as well as other stringed
instruments such as mandola, mandolin, and bouzouki. He also performs
backing vocals in live performances, and occasionally plays keyboards
and bass pedal synthesizers. Instrumentally, Lifeson is regarded as a
guitarist whose strengths and notability rely primarily on signature
riffing, electronic effects and processing, unorthodox chord structures,
and a copious arsenal of equipment used over the years that has befitted
him the title by his bandmates as "The Musical Scientist".
The
bulk of Lifeson’s work in music has been with Rush, although he has
contributed to a body of work outside of the band as a guitarist and
producer. In addition to music, Lifeson is a painter, an avid golfer, a
licensed aircraft pilot, and part-owner of The Orbit Room (a bar and
restaurant located in Toronto, Canada). He is also known for his comedic
virtues, which have been highlighted in various cameo film roles over
the years including one in the Canadian-cult mockumentary series The
Trailer Park Boys. Along with his bandmates Geddy Lee and Neil Peart,
Lifeson was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on May 9, 1996 and
the highest artistic honour by receiving the Governor General’s Award in
2012. Lifeson ranks third in the Guitar World Readers poll of 100
greatest guitarists and is also included in Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest
Guitarists of All Time.
In addition to charities supported by the
band, Lifeson continues to give back to charities and causes close to
his heart which have included Casey House, The Kidney Foundation as well
as the Domenic Troiano foundation that funds guitar scholarships.
Lifeson has been married to his highschool sweetheart Charlene for 40
years and has 2 sons and 2 grandsons.
Neil
Peart was born September 12, 1952, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada,
and first lived on the family dairy farm, near Hagersville. After the
family moved to nearby St. Catharines, Neil began drum lessons at age
thirteen, studying with local teacher Don George, then played in a
succession of rock bands. Early influences were Gene Krupa, Keith Moon,
Mitch Mitchell, Ginger Baker, Michael Giles, John Bonham, and Michael
Shrieve. At eighteen, he moved to London, England, a time about which he
has said: “I was seeking fame and fortune, and found anonymity and
poverty. But I learned a lot about life."
Returning to Canada in
1972, Neil began working at his father’s farm equipment dealership,
playing part-time in local bands. His influences then included Phil
Collins, Bill Bruford, and Billy Cobham. In July, 1974, he auditioned
for an unknown Toronto band, and joined Rush on the eve of their first
American release and tour.
Neil appeared on Rush’s second album,
Fly By Night, in 1975, contributing most of the lyrics–as he would
throughout their career. It was Rush’s fourth album, 2112, released in
1976, that brought the band their first measure of success. They
gradually built on that modest popularity with A Farewell to Kings,
Hemispheres, and Permanent Waves, then cemented their classic rock
status with the enduring favorite, Moving Pictures, in 1981. Along the
way, Rush earned a reputation for their elaborate live shows and became
a perennially popular touring band. Over the years their shows have
elevated steadily in both production and musical values.
Neil has
long been celebrated by other drummers in polls and cited influences,
and continues to win numerous awards from the drum magazines, for his
recorded work, live performance, and overall musicianship. The drum
solos he performs during the Rush tours have become legendary.
In 1994 he produced a tribute album to Buddy Rich and big-band jazz,
Burning For Buddy: A Tribute to the Music of Buddy Rich, in two volumes,
featuring many of the most prominent drummers of the day.
In
1997, tragedy struck when Peart’s daughter Selena was killed in a car
accident, and his wife Jacqueline died from cancer just 10 months later.
The band took a nearly four year hiatus while Peart healed by traveling
some 55,000 miles across North and Central America on his motorcycle by
himself. He chronicled his cathartic journey in his 2002 book, “Ghost
Rider: Travels of the Healing Road.” Peart remarried in 2000 to
photographer, Carrie Nuttall and the band resumed recording and touring
the following year. Never resting on his laurels, Neil has also
continued to study formally, with Freddie Gruber since the mid-’90s, and
with Peter Erskine in 2008. A year later, thier daughter Olivia Louise
Peart was born in 2009.
Neil has released two instructional DVDs,
A Work in Progress (1996) on the subject of composing drum parts and
recording them, and Anatomy of a Drum Solo (2005), on the title subject.
In 2011, Hudson Music released Taking Center Stage: A Lifetime of Live
Performance, on the subject of drumming in front of audiences–for 43
years (and counting).
Neil has also published six books: Far and
Near: On Days Like These (2014), Far and Away: A Prize Every Time
(2011), The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa (1996), Ghost Rider:
Travels on the Healing Road (2002), Traveling Music: The Soundtrack to
My Life and Times (2004), and Roadshow: Landscape With Drums, A Concert
Tour by Motorcycle (2006).
Januaray 7th, 2020 is a day I will
never forget. The day my drum hero passed away after a incredibly brave
three and a half year battle with brain cancer. I cried all day and
still do sometimes when I think about how much of an influence he was on
me and still is to so many people.
Neil Peart 1952 - 2020
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