Biographies

Geddy Lee

Geddy Lee

Aliases
"Dirk" & "By-Tor"

Band Position
Bassist / Vocalist / Keyboardist

Instruments
Bass guitars, classical guitars, twelve string guitar, occasional rhythm guitar and synthesizers (mini moog, bass pedals, bass pedal synthesizer, moog taurus pedals, taurus pedal synthesizers, oberheim polyphonic, oberheim digital sequencer, OB-1, OB-X, OB-8, roland space echo)

Personal Profile
Born Gary Lee Weinrib in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on July 29, 1953.  His Polish parents emigrated to Canada after World War II.  The name Geddy comes from his grandmother saying Gary with a heavy Yiddish accent.

Geddy joined RUSH in September, 1968, replacing Jeff Jones, who subsequently went on to join Red Rider.  Geddy was eventually kicked out of the band in May, 1969, at which point he founded a rhythm and blues band called Ogilvie.  Ogilvie later changed their name to Judd.  RUSH also underwent a name change, becoming Hadrian.  Judd soon broke up and John Rutsey phoned Geddy and asked him to reform RUSH because Hadrian wasn't doing much of anything.  The RUSH name was revived and the rest is history.

Geddy, who met Alex while in grade school, started out playing rhythm guitar but switched to bass when the band's bassist quit.  He was strongly influenced by Jack Bruce of Cream.

Geddy is married to Nancy Young and they currently live outside of Toronto with their son, Julian, and daughter, Kyla.  He released his first solo album, My Favorite Headache, in November, 2000.  His favorite sports are tennis, hockey and baseball.  In the past, Geddy has expressed interest in possibly owning or running a minor league baseball team.

Accomplishments & Awards

Neil Peart

Neil Peart

Aliases
"Pratt" & "The Professor"

Band Position
Percussionist / Lyricist

Instruments
Drums (snare drum, bass drum, closed toms, concert toms, gong bass drum), cymbals (ride cymbals, crash cymbals, hi-hat cymbals, special effect cymbals), acoustic percussion (orchestra bells, tubular bells, temple blocks, melodic cowbells, wind chimes, bell-tree, triangle, vibra-slap, tympani, gong, burma bell, crotales, timbales, glockenspiel, plywood, hammer dulcimer) and electronic percussion

Personal Profile
Neil Peart was born September 12, 1952 in Hamilton, Ontario.  Started playing the drums when he was 13, after his parents got tired of him beating up the furniture with the drum sticks.  He got his first session of professional drum lessons for his birthday.  His first drum kit was "a lovely little three-piece set with red sparkles".    Originally inspired by the aggressive drumming of the late Keith Moon, he is also influenced by the likes of Carl Palmer and Bill Bruford.

Neil grew up near Toronto and played in a series of high school bands before moving to London during the early 70's in order to try and further his musical career.  While there he worked as a salesman at a shop called The Great Frog in the tourist district of Carnaby Street.  Disillusioned by the British music scene he later returned to Canada where he hooked up with some small bands before meeting up with Geddy and Alex.  He joined RUSH in June, 1974, replacing original drummer John Rutsey.

Outside of RUSH, Neil has managed to keep himself quite busy over the years.  He wrote several books that were not widely published including "The African Drum" (1988), "Raindance Over The Rockies" (1988) and "Drumbeats" (1994).  "The Masked Rider: Cycling In West Africa" (1996) - about a month-long bicycling tour through Cameroon in November of 1988 - was his first mass produced book.  In 1996, he released "A Work In Progress", a two-video set which documents the recording of the RUSH album Test For Echo.  The instructional video, subsequently released on DVD in 2002, includes discussions about his approach to drumming and his new drum set-up.  Neil also produced several projects honoring the late Buddy Rich including two tribute albums, "Burning For Buddy: A Tribute To The Music Of Buddy Rich, Vol.1" in 1994, and Vol. 2 in 1997.  "Ghost Rider: Travels On The Healing Road", published in July 2002, recounts Neil's travels by motorcycle across North America, and also his healing after the death of his wife and daughter.  Neil's third book, "Traveling Music: The Soundtrack To My Life And Times", was published in the summer of 2004.  In it, Peart reflects on his life, his career, his family and the thing that ties them all together: music.  Released in Spetmber, 2006, "Roadshow: Landscape With Drums, A Concert Tour By Motorcycle" chronicles RUSH's R30 tour both from behind Neil's drumkit and on his BMW R1150GS motorcycle.

Neil is an avid reader and his lyrical influences stem from some of his literary heroes - J.R.R. Tolkien, Ernest Hemmingway, John Steinbeck, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dos Passos, Barth, Ayn Rand, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Neil's only child, Selena, passed away in August of 1997 from a tragic car crash.  His wife, Jacqueline Taylor, passed away from cancer in June of 1998.  Neil is currently married to photographer Carrie Nuttall and they reside in Los Angeles, CA.

Accomplishments & Awards
Modern Drummer Readers' Polls:

Alex Lifeson

Alex Lifeson

Aliases
"Lerxst" & "Snow Dog"

Band Position
Guitarist / Backing Vocalist

Instruments
Guitars (6 & 12 stringed acoustic & electric guitars, classical guitars, mandola) and synthesizers (bass pedals, bass pedal synthesizer, moog taurus pedals, taurus pedal synthesizers, roland guitar synthesizer)

Personal Profile
Alex Lifeson was born Alexander Zivojinovich on August 27, 1953, in the mountain fishing port of Fernie, British Columbia.  Lifeson is the English translation of Zivojinovich.  He uses it because "it's easier to spell and say".  Alex's parents immigrated from Yugoslavia to Canada.  He started playing guitar when he was 12, having previously made unsuccessful attempts at learning the viola.  At first he wanted to play classical guitar, but then he started getting into rock music.  His first six-string was a Kent classical acoustic, which his father bought him as a Christmas present.  A year later Alex acquired a $59 Japanese electric model.

His early guitar influences are Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, and Jimmy Page.  Other contemporary guitarists whom Alex admires include Paco De Lucia, Allan Holdsworth, Edward Van Halen, Andy Summers and Rory Gallagher.  He was basically self-taught as a guitarist.  His only formal training was during RUSH's early days on the Toronto club circuit.

During RUSH's extended hiatus in 1994, Alex recorded his first solo album, Victor.  Victor was recorded over a period of 10 months in Alex's home studio and released in January 1996.  Although he did play most of the instruments himself, Alex called upon local session musicians Bill Bell (guitarist), Peter Cardinali (bassist), and Blake Manning (drummer) to join in on the sessions.  Bassist Les Claypool of Primus lent his amazing skills on a track as well.  Vocalists include Lifeson, Edwin from I Mother Earth, Canadian vocalist/songwriter Dalbello, and, Alex's wife Charlene with her friend Esther.  Alex also ventured into producing, helping out 3 Doors Down with their album, 'Better Life'.

He is currently married to Charlene and has two sons, Justin and Adrian.  Alex is a licensed pilot and spends time flying when not on tour.  He also has a strong reputation in the group as a gourmet cook.

Accomplishments & Awards

Band Awards & Accomplishments

Juno Awards

Related Awards & Accomplishments