Geddy Lee | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Lee performing atWembley Stadium in 2022 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Gary Lee Weinrib (1953-07-29)July 29, 1953 (age 72) North York, Ontario, Canada |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
|
| Instruments |
|
| Years active | 1968–present |
| Labels | |
| Member of | Rush |
| Formerly of | Big Dirty Band |
Spouse | |
| Signature | |
 | |
Geddy Lee Weinrib (/ˈɡɛdi/; bornGary Lee Weinrib, July 29, 1953) is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for therock bandRush.[4] Lee joined the band in September 1968 at the request of his childhood friendAlex Lifeson, replacing original bassist and frontmanJeff Jones.[5][6] Along with Lifeson, Lee is one of the only two members to appear on every Rush album, and he remained in the band until its hiatus, which lasted from 2015 to 2025. Lee's solo effort,My Favourite Headache, was released in 2000.
Lee's style, technique, and skill on the bass have inspired many rock musicians such asCliff Burton ofMetallica;[7]Steve Harris ofIron Maiden;[8]John Myung ofDream Theater;[9]Les Claypool ofPrimus;[10]Steve Di Giorgio ofSadus,Death andTestament;[11] andTim Commerford ofRage Against the Machine andAudioslave.[12] Along with his Rush bandmates – guitaristAlex Lifeson and drummerNeil Peart – Lee was made an Officer of theOrder of Canada on May 9, 1996. The trio was the first rock band to receive this honor.[13] In 2013, the group was inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame after 14 years of eligibility. In 2006, Lee was ranked 13th byHit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Vocalists of All Time.[14] In 2020,Rolling Stone ranked Lee 24th on their list of the 50 greatest bassists of all time[15]
He was born Gary Lee Weinrib[16] on July 29, 1953, inWillowdale,Toronto, to Morris Weinrib (born Moshe Meir Weinrib; 1920–1965) fromOstrowiec Świętokrzyski,Poland; and Mary "Manya" Rubinstein (born Malka Rubinstein; 1925–2021),[17][18] who was also from Poland: born inWarsaw and later raised inWierzbnik.[19][20][21][22][23] His parents wereJewishHolocaust survivors fromPoland who had survived theghetto inStarachowice (where they met), followed by their imprisonments atAuschwitz and laterDachau andBergen-Belsenconcentration camps duringthe Holocaust andWorld War II.[20][21] They were in their teens when they were initially imprisoned at Auschwitz. "It was kind of surreal pre-teen shit", says Lee, describing how his father bribed guards to bring shoes to his mother. After a period, his mother was transferred to Bergen-Belsen and his father to Dachau. When the war ended four years later, and theAllies liberated the camps, Morris set out in search of Manya and found her at aBergen-Belsen displaced persons camp.[20] They married there and eventually immigrated to Canada.[24]
When Lee started school, his name was incorrectly registered.[25] As a result, Lee grew up thinking his middle name was "Lorne". As a teenager, he saw a copy of his birth certificate and discovered that his middle name was "Lee".[16]
Lee's father died young, which forced Lee's mother to work to support their three children by running theNewmarket, Ontario, variety store that her husband had owned and managed.[17][24] Lee has suggested that his father's death was probably a factor in his becoming a musician: "It was a terrible blow that I lost him, but the course of my life changed because my mother couldn't control us." He has said that losing his father at such an early age made him aware of how "quickly life can disappear", which inspired him from then on to get the most out of his life and music.[26]
Lee turned his basement into practice space for a band he formed with high school friends. After the band began earning income from small performances at high school shows or other events, he decided to drop out of high school and play rock and roll professionally. His mother was devastated when he gave her the news.
All the shit I put her through, on top of the fact that she just lost her husband. I felt like I had to make sure that it was worth it. I wanted to show her that I was a professional, that I was working hard, and wasn't just a fuckin' lunatic.[24]
Jweekly featured Lee's reflections on his mother's experiences as a refugee and on his own Jewish heritage.[21] Lee's name,Geddy, was derived from his mother's Polish-accented pronunciation of his given first name,Gary.[27] This was picked up by his friends in school, leading Lee to adopt it as his stage name (excising his surname, leaving his middle name as his surname) and later his legal name,[28] Geddy Lee Weinrib[16]: 10:58 (replacing his first name).
After Rush had become a widely recognized rock group, Lee told the group's drummer and lyricist,Neil Peart, about his mother's early life.[29] Peart then wrote the lyrics to "Red Sector A", which was inspired by her ordeal. The song, for which Lee wrote the music, was released on the band's 1984 albumGrace Under Pressure.[22] The lyrics include the following verse:
I hear the sound of gunfire at the prison gate
Are the liberators here?
Do I hope or do I fear?
For my father and my brother, it's too late
But I must help my mother stand up straight.[30]
Lee began playing music in school when he was 10 or 11 and received his first acoustic guitar at 14. In school, he first played drums, trumpet and clarinet. However, learning to play instruments in school was not satisfying to Lee, and he took basic piano lessons independently. His interest increased dramatically after listening to some of the popular rock groups at the time. Early influences includedJack Bruce ofCream,John Entwistle ofThe Who,Jeff Beck, andProcol Harum.[19] "I was mainly interested in early Britishprogressive rock", said Lee. "That's how I learned to play bass, emulating Jack Bruce and people like that."[31] Bruce's style of music was also noticed by Lee, who liked that "his sound was distinctive – it wasn't boring."[31] Lee has also been influenced byPaul McCartney,[32]Chris Squire,[33] andJames Jamerson.[34]
In 1969, Rush began playing professionally in coffeehouses, high school dances and at various outdoor recreational events. By 1971, they were now playing primarily original songs in small clubs and bars, including Toronto's Gasworks and Abbey Road Pub.[35] Lee describes the group during these early years as being "weekend warriors". They were holding down jobs during the weekdays and playing music on weekends: "We longed to break out of the boring surrounding of the suburbs and the endless similarities . . . the shopping plazas and all that stuff...the music was a vehicle for us to speak out."[35] He claims that in the beginning, they were simply "a straightforward rock band."[35]
Short of money, they began opening concerts at venues such as Toronto'sVictory Burlesque Theatre for theglam rock bandNew York Dolls.[35] By 1972, Rush began performing full-length concerts, mainly consisting of original songs, in cities including Toronto andDetroit. As they gained more recognition, they began performing as an opening act for groups such asAerosmith,Kiss, andBlue Öyster Cult.[36]
After several early albums and increasing popularity, Rush's status as a rock group soared over the following five years as they consistently toured worldwide and produced successful albums, including2112 (1976),A Farewell to Kings (1977),Hemispheres (1978),Permanent Waves (1980), andMoving Pictures (1981). Lee began adding synthesizers in 1977, with the release ofA Farewell to Kings. Keyboard critic Greg Armbruster says the additional sounds from synthesizers expanded the group's "textural capabilities" and allowed the trio to produce an orchestrated and more complex progressive rock music style.[36] It also gave Lee the ability to play bass simultaneously, as he could control the synthesizer with foot pedals. In 1981, he wonKeyboard magazine's poll as "Best New Talent."[36] By the 1984 albumGrace Under Pressure, Lee was surrounding himself with stacks of keyboards on stage.[36]
By the 1980s, Rush had become one of the "biggest rock bands on the planet", selling out arena seats when touring.[19][28] Lee was known for his dynamic stage movements. According to music critic Tom Mulhern, writing in 1980, "it's dazzling to see so much sheer energy expended without a nervous breakdown."[31] By 1996, theirTest for Echo Tour began performing without an opening act, their shows lasting nearly three hours;[37][full citation needed][38] this tradition continued until Peart's retirement from touring in 2015 which hastened the band's demise. Lee and Lifeson reunited as Rush in October 2025, withAnika Nilles filling in for Peart.[39]
My Favourite Headache, Lee's solo album, was released on November 14, 2000, while Rush was on a hiatus following the deaths of Neil Peart's daughter and wife.[40] Musicians associated with the project include friend and Rush collaboratorBen Mink and drummerMatt Cameron ofSoundgarden andPearl Jam.
In April 2025, Geddy Lee released a12" single titledThe Lost Demos, consisting of re-recordings of two previously unpublished demos fromMy Favourite Headache. On the week of its release, the United KingdomThe Lost Demos reached 30th on the Official Physical Singles Chart andOfficial Vinyl Singles Chart, and theA-side, "Gone", reached 62nd on theUK singles chart.[41]
The bulk of Lee's work in music has been with Rush (seeRush discography). However, Lee has also contributed to a body of work outside of his involvement with the band through guest appearances and album production. In 1980, Lee was brought in to produce Toronto-based bandWireless who had previously opened up for Rush and were on the verge of breaking up. With Lee at the helm, the group recorded their third and final album,No Static, released on Rush's label,Anthem Records.[42]
In 1981, Lee was the featured guest for the hit song "Take Off" and its included comedic commentary withBob and Doug McKenzie (played byRick Moranis andDave Thomas, respectively) for the McKenzie Brothers' comedy albumGreat White North, which was released on Rush'sAnthem label. While Rush has had great success selling albums, "Take Off" is the highest-charting single on theBillboard Hot 100 of Lee's career.[43]
In 1982, Lee produced the first (and only) album from Toronto's new wave bandBoys Brigade. On the 1985 albumWe Are the World, by humanitarian consortiumUSA for Africa, Lee recorded guest vocals for the song "Tears Are Not Enough".[44] Lee sang "O Canada", the Canadian national anthem, at Baltimore'sCamden Yards for the1993 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.[45]
Another version of "O Canada", with a rock arrangement, was recorded by Lee and Lifeson for the 1999 film soundtrackSouth Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut.[46]
Lee also plays bass on Canadian rock bandI Mother Earth's track "Good for Sule", which is featured on the group's 1999 albumBlue Green Orange.[46]
Along with his bandmates, Lee was a guest musician on theMax Webster song "Battle Scar", from the 1980 albumUniversal Juveniles.[46]
Lee appeared inBroken Social Scene's music video for their 2006 single "Fire Eye'd Boy", judging the band while performing various musical tasks. In 2006, Lee joined Lifeson'ssupergroup, theBig Dirty Band, to provide songs accompanyingTrailer Park Boys: The Movie.[47]
In 2017, Lee performed in place of late bassistChris Squire withYes during the band'sRock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, playing bass for the song "Roundabout."[48][49]
In 2018, Lee publishedGeddy Lee's Big Beautiful Book of Bass, which highlights his collection of over 250 basses along with interviews with some of the leading bass players and bass technicians.[citation needed]
In 2020, Lee provided guest vocals to an all-star Canadian rendition of the lateBill Withers song "Lean on Me" during the TV specialStronger Together, Tous Ensemble, a Canadian benefit performance simulcast by every major television network in Canada as a benefit forFood Banks Canada during theCOVID-19 pandemic.[50] In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked him as the 24th-greatest bassist of all time.[51]
In September 2021,Barenaked Ladies frontmanEd Robertson revealed that he was working on a "secret project" with Lee,[52] which turned out to be callouts for a subsequent Rush pinball machine.[53]
In 2022, he appeared as aguest star playing Thomas Sawyer on the acclaimed long-runningCBC period dramaMurdoch Mysteries.[54]
In November 2023, Lee published anautobiography titledMy Effin' Life.[16][55] The book was promoted with a 19-datetour of the UK and North America.[56]
On December 5, 2023, Paramount+ released a video series, "Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too?" Four episodes were aired onLes Claypool,Robert Trujillo,Melissa Auf der Maur, andKrist Novoselic. Each episode features Lee visiting with and talking to the guest bassist.[57]
Like Cream, Rush followed the model of a "power trio", with Lee playing bass and singing. Lee's vocals produced a distinctive, resonant "countertenor".[35] Lee possessed a three-octave vocal range spanning from baritone through tenor, alto, andmezzo-soprano pitch ranges; however, his voice has lowered with age.[35] Lee's playing style is widely regarded for his use of high treble and very hard playing of the strings and for utilizing the bass as a lead instrument, often contrapuntal to Lifeson's guitar. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Lee mostly used aRickenbacker 4001 bass, with a very noticeable grit in his tone. According to Lee, during the band's "synth era" in the mid-1980s, Lee usedSteinberger and laterWal basses, with the latter having more of a "jazzy" tone.[58] From 1993'sCounterparts onward, Lee began using theFender Jazz Bass almost exclusively, returning to his trademark high treble sound. Lee had first used the Jazz Bass to recordMoving Pictures on songs such as "Tom Sawyer."[59]
Music industry writer Christopher Buttner, who interviewed Lee in 1996, described him as a prodigy and "role model" for what every musician wants to be, noting his proficiency on stage. Buttner cited Lee's ability to vary time signatures, play multiple keyboards, use bass pedal controllers and control sequencers, all while singing lead vocals into as many as three microphones. Buttner adds that few musicians of any instrument "can juggle half of what Geddy can do without literally falling on their ass."[28] As a result, notes Tom Mulhern, Lee's instrumentation was the "pulse" of the group and created a "one-man rhythm section", which complemented guitaristAlex Lifeson and percussionistNeil Peart.[31] Bass instructorAllan Slutsky, or "Dr Licks", credits Lee's "biting, high-end bass lines and creative synthesizer work" for helping the group become "one of the most innovative" of all the groups that play arena rock.[60] By 1989,Guitar Player magazine had designated Lee the "Best Rock Bass" player from their reader's poll for the previous five years.[60]
Greg Prato ofAllMusic wrote that "fewhard rock bassists have been as influential as Rush's Geddy Lee."[61] Bass players who have cited Lee as an influence includeCliff Burton ofMetallica,[7]Steve Harris ofIron Maiden,[8]John Myung ofDream Theater,[9]Les Claypool ofPrimus,[10] andSteve Di Giorgio ofSadus,Death andTestament.[11]
Lee is a collector, and has collected baseballephemera, vintage bass guitars, and wines, with a collection of 5,000 bottles.[62] As a child he collected stamps andvinyl records. He went on to collectfirst edition books as well as bass guitars.[63] Lee is also an avid watch collector.[64]
.jpg)
Lee is also a longtimebaseball fan. His favourite team while growing up was theDetroit Tigers,[66] and he later became a fan of theToronto Blue Jays after they were established.[66] In the 1980s, Lee began reading the works ofBill James, particularlyThe Bill James Baseball Abstracts, which led to an interest insabermetrics and participation in afantasy baseball keeper league.[66] He collects baseball memorabilia, once donatingpart of his collection[67] to theNegro Leagues Baseball Museum,[68] and threw theceremonial first pitch to inaugurate the2013 Toronto Blue Jays season.[69][70] Lee sang the Canadian national anthem[71] before the1993 MLB All-Star Game. In 2016, Lee planned to produce an independent film about baseball in Italy.[72] Lee is regularly seen in his seat behind home plate at theToronto Blue Jays stadiumRogers Centre with his scorecard.[73] When the team was forced to move toBuffalo during the 2020 season, a cardboard cutout of Lee was placed in a seat behind home plate.[74]
Lee also collects guitars and basses. He has a collection of over 250 vintage basses.[75] He owns a 1961Fender Precision Bass previously owned byJohn Entwistle ofThe Who. He also owns two 1964 Fender Jazz Basses in the rare Dakota Red color.[76]
In 2019, Lee sent several of his guitars to Mecum Auctions, including a 1959Les Paul Standard, a 1960Gibson ES-345, a 1955Fender Stratocaster, a 1960Gibson ES-335, a 1965 Gibson ES-335 and a 1967Gibson Flying V.[77]
In the early days of Rush, Lee used aFender Precision Bass, which eventually had its body modified and refinished to a blue "teardrop"-shape.[78] Inspired by the distinctive sound of Yes bassist Chris Squire, Lee then acquired a blackRickenbacker 4001 bass, which remained his main instrument from the 1970s up until the early 1980s.[79]
In 1998, Fender released theGeddy Lee Jazz Bass, available in Black[80] and 3-Color Sunburst[81] (as of 2009).[82] This signature model is a recreation of Lee's favourite bass, a 1972 Fender Jazz that he bought in a pawn shop in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1978. In 2015, Fender released a revised USA model of his signature bass,[83] with most of the changes reflecting those Lee had made to his own instrument over the years.
Lee has been a longtime user ofRotoSound strings. He uses Swing Bass RS66LD (.45-.105) on a majority of his basses,[84][85] but used Funkmaster FM66 (.30-.90) on hisWal basses from 1985 to 1992.[86]
For Rush's 2010 tour, Lee used twoOrange AD200 bass heads together with two OBC410 4x10 bass cabinets.[87]
Over the years, Lee has used synthesizers fromOberheim (Oberheim Eight Voice,OB-1,OB-X,OB-Xa),PPG (Wave 2.2 and 2.3),Roland (Jupiter 8,D-50, XV-5080, andFantom X7),Moog (Minimoog,Taurus pedals,Little Phatty[88]), andYamaha (DX7, KX76).
Newer advances in synthesizer and sampler technology have allowed Lee to store familiar sounds from his old synthesizers alongside new ones in combination synthesizer/samplers, such as the Roland XV-5080. For live shows in 2002 and 2004, Lee and his keyboard technician used the playback capabilities of the XV-5080 to generate virtually all of Rush's keyboard sounds to date and additional complex sound passages that previously required several machines at once to produce.[89]
To trigger these sounds in real-time, Lee usesMIDI controllers, placed at the locations on the stage where he has a microphone stand. Lee uses two types of MIDI controllers: one type resembles a traditional synthesizer keyboard on a stand (Yamaha KX76). The second type is a large foot-pedal keyboard placed on the stage floor (Korg MPK-130, Roland PK-5). Combined, they enable Lee to use his free hands and feet to trigger sounds in electronic equipment that has been placed off-stage.[89] With this technology Lee and his bandmates can present their arrangements in a live setting with the level of complexity and fidelity that fans have come to expect and without the need to resort to the use ofbacking tracks or employing an additional band member.[90] During theClockwork Angels Tour, a notable exception was when a string ensemble played string parts, originally arranged and conducted byDavid Campbell onClockwork Angels.[91]
In 1996, Lee stopped using traditional bass amplifiers on stage, opting to have the bass guitar signals input directly to the touring front-of-house console to improve control and sound definition. He began usingTech 21 SansAmp units after experimenting with one in the studio intended for Alex Lifeson's guitar[92] and eventually received signature models from the company, most notably the GED-2112 rackmount.[93]
Faced with the dilemma of what to do with the empty space left behind by the lack of large amplifier cabinets, Lee chose to decorate his side of the stage with unusual items. TheSnakes & Arrows Tour prominently featured three Henhouse brand rotisserie chicken ovens on stage complete with an attendant in a chef's hat and apron to "tend" the chickens during shows.[94]
Lee married Nancy Young in 1976.[103] They have a son and a daughter. He takes annual trips to France, where he indulges in cheese and wine.[104] In 2011, a charitable foundation he supports, Grapes for Humanity, created the Geddy Lee Scholarship for winemaking students atNiagara College.[105] Lee has described himself as aJewish atheist, explaining to an interviewer, "I consider myself a Jew as a race, but not so much as a religion. I'm not down with religion at all. I'm a Jewish atheist, if that's possible."[106]
– Matka frontmana grupy Geddy Lee, pochodziła z Wierzbnika...[– Mother of the band's frontman Geddy Lee, originated from Wierzbnik...]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
