Gord Downie | |
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.jpg) Downie performing inGuelph, Ontario, 2001 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Gordon Edgar Downie |
| Also known as |
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| Born | (1964-02-06)February 6, 1964 Amherstview,Ontario, Canada |
| Origin | Kingston,Ontario, Canada |
| Died | October 17, 2017(2017-10-17) (aged 53) Toronto,Ontario, Canada |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1983–2017 |
| Website | thehip |
Gordon Edgar DownieCM (February 6, 1964 – October 17, 2017) was a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, musician, writer, poet, and activist. He was the singer and lyricist for theCanadian rock bandThe Tragically Hip, which he fronted from its formation in 1984 until his death in 2017. He is revered by many as an inspiring and influential artist in Canada's music history.[1]
Downie released eight solo albums, three posthumously:Coke Machine Glow (2001),Battle of the Nudes (2003),The Grand Bounce (2010),And the Conquering Sun (2014),Secret Path (2016),Introduce Yerself (2017),Away Is Mine (2020), andLustre Parfait (2023).[2] His first to hit number one wasIntroduce Yerself, shortly after his death. His family and managers said future releases are planned, including solo material and unreleased work with the Hip.
Gordon Edgar Downie was born inAmherstview, Ontario, and raised inKingston, Ontario, along with his brothersMike and Patrick, and sisters Charlyn and Paula. He was the son of Lorna (Neal) and Edgar Charles Downie, a travelling salesman, later a real estate broker and developer.[3][4] In Kingston, Downie attended the downtown high schoolKingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute, where other members of the Tragically Hip also attended.[5] In high school, Downie was the front man for a band called the Slinks performing at the KCVI Variety show and rivalling older members Rob Baker and Gord Sinclair's band the Rodents.[5] After graduating from high school, Downie attendedQueen's University where he majored in film studies, graduating with aBachelor of Arts in 1986.[6]
In 1984, at age 20, Downie formed the Tragically Hip with Rodents members Rob Baker and Gord Sinclair, another youngerKingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute alumnus, Johnny Fay, and saxophonist Davis Manning.[5] In 1986, Manning left the band as guitarist-vocalist Paul Langlois joined.[7] Originally, the band covered popular British rock songs from the 1960s.[5] In an interview with Canadian music journalist Steve Newton, Downie noted that the Tragically Hip's early set list was originally drawn to bands such asThe Yardbirds andThe Stones, a decision that was made because the Hip wished other Kingston bar bands would also play the genre.[5] The Tragically Hip quickly became famous once MCA Records president Bruce Dickinson saw them performing atMassey Hall in Toronto and offered them a record deal.[8]
Downie became known for his showmanship in live Hip performances, incorporating mid-songspoken-word rants, zany gestures and movements, and especially on their finalMan Machine Poem Tour, his bold wardrobe.[9][10][11]
Downie began pursuing a solo career with the release ofCoke Machine Glow in 2001. He published his first poetry and prose collection alongside the album and under the same title.[12]The backing musicians, credited as the Goddamned Band, consisted of indie rock bandthe Dinner Is Ruined,Josh Finlayson ofSkydiggers and singer-songwriterJulie Doiron.[13][14]He released his second solo album,Battle of the Nudes, in 2003 before returning to the studio with the Tragically Hip. His third solo effort,The Grand Bounce, was released in 2010. Both it andBattle of the Nudes are credited as Gord Downie and the Country of Miracles.[15]
In addition to his solo works, Downie collaborated with several fellow Canadian and international artists. His most famous Canadian collaborations are with Richard Terfry (better known asBuck 65),Dallas Green ofCity and Colour andAlexisonfire,the Sadies andFucked Up. Terfry collaborated with Downie on the song "Whispers of the Waves" off the album20 Odd Years. Terfry composed the track and with the help of Charles Austen, his co-writer, decided Downie's vocals would be the best fit for their song.[16]In 2008, Downie appeared as a guest vocalist onCity and Colour's single "Sleeping Sickness".[17]In 2014, Downie released an album with the Sadies calledAnd the Conquering Sun. He commented on working with the Sadies, saying, "I enjoy getting together with those guys; it's a whole other universe. They're writing all the music and I'm writing all the lyrics and we're coming up with some neat stuff. You do it for the company but I'm genuinely shocked by the themes and things you touch based on the music you're singing to. That's really compelling to me." The album consists of ten songs.[18]
Also in 2014 Downie appeared as a guest vocalist on "The Art of Patrons", a song fromFucked Up's albumGlass Boys.[19]
On February 2, 2017, Downie joinedBlue Rodeo onstage atMassey Hall for a performance of Blue Rodeo's song "Lost Together".[20] This marked his last public appearance before his death.
Downie had cameo appearances inMen with Brooms, in which the Tragically Hip play acurling team. Downie also made a cameo appearance in the 2008 indie dramaNothing Really Matters, directed by Jean-Marc Piché. Downie also appears in theTrailer Park Boys movieThe Big Dirty, in which he andAlex Lifeson play a pair of police officers. More recently, he and other members of the band appeared in the episode ofTrailer Park Boys entitled "Say Goodnight to the Bad Guys", in which he is harassed while eating abologna sandwich at a singles dance. Downie was also featured in the sitcomCorner Gas in the episode "Rock On!" in which the Tragically Hip are shown as a local band practising in the main character's garage.Colin James is also featured in the episode. Downie also appeared inMichael McGowan's 2008 film,One Week. A documentary film,Long Time Running, about the Tragically Hip's summer 2016 cross-Canada farewell concert tour, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2017.[21]
Downie was heavily involved in environmental movements, especially issues concerning water rights. He was a board member ofLake Ontario Waterkeeper.[22] With Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, Downie helped work on a cause to prevent a cement company from burning tires for fuel.[23] He was also a part of the Swim Drink Fish Music club,[24] a project that unites artists and environmentalists in a music club to raise money for Waterkeeper organizations in Canada.[25] Downie served as a Swim Drink Fish "Ambassador, board member, and creative force".[26]
In February 2012 inFort Albany,Ontario, Downie and the Tragically Hip played at the Great Moon Gathering, a yearly educational conference that takes place in various communities along Northern Ontario'sJames Bay coast. Its focus is on youth learning and combining Cree education with the contemporary world.[27] The venue was small and not typical of the band. AuthorJoseph Boyden, who invited them, said their motivation was to "initiate a guerrilla act of love for a people who are so thoroughly underrepresented but now, somehow, overexposed for only their shortcomings. A guerrilla act of love to show the rest of the country what strength and artistry, grace and humour the Cree possess." In addition to the Tragically Hip's performance, Downie sang a song with a local band, Northern Revolution. The song "Goodnight Attawapiskat" from the albumNow for Plan A was a result of this trip.[28]
On October 13, 2016, Downie and his brother Mike, along with the Wenjack family, announced the founding of the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund to support reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.[29][30] The fund is a part of Downie's legacy and commitment to Canada's First Peoples.[29]Chanie Wenjack was a young Indigenous boy who died trying to escape a residential school,[31] who became the central character of Downie'sSecret Path project. The Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund is a registered charity.
At theAssembly of First Nations inGatineau,Quebec, on December 6, 2016, National ChiefPerry Bellegarde honoured Downie with an eagle feather, a symbol of the creator above, for his support of the Indigenous peoples of Canada. Bellegarde also bestowed on Downie an honorary aboriginal name, Wicapi Omani, which isLakota for "man who walks among the stars".[32]
Downie took to Parliament Hill on July 2, 2017, to speak out for Canada's young Indigenous people, likening it to the same kind of pain young people suffered in the now defunctresidential schools.[33]
In May 2016, Downie and his bandmates received honorary degrees from Queen's University. Downie was not able to attend the ceremony due to his illness which had not yet been made public.[6]
On December 22, 2016, Downie was selected asThe Canadian Press'sCanadian Newsmaker of the Year and was the first entertainer selected for the title.[34] In December 2017, Downie was again named Canadian Newsmaker of the Year for the second year in a row, in recognition of the public reaction to his death.[35]
Downie, along with his Tragically Hip bandmates, was appointed a Member of theOrder of Canada on June 19, 2017, for "their contribution to Canadian music and for their support of various social and environmental causes".[36]
In December 2017,Percy Hatfield, theMember of Provincial Parliament (MPP) representingWindsor—Tecumseh introduced the billPoet Laureate of Ontario Act In Memory of Gord Downie to theLegislative Assembly of Ontario. It was passed in December 2019, establishing thePoet Laureate of Ontario.[37]
In December 2015, shortly after attending his father's funeral, Downie was diagnosed with a terminalbrain tumour. The Tragically Hip announced his diagnosis on their website on May 24, 2016.[38][39] Doctors at Toronto'sSunnybrook Health Sciences Centre confirmed the same day that it was aglioblastoma, which had responded favourably to radiation and chemotherapy treatment but was not curable.[40]
Downietoured with the band in summer 2016 to supportMan Machine Poem, the band's 13th studio album.[38] The tour's final concert was held at theRogers K-Rock Centre in Kingston, Ontario, on August 20 and was broadcast and streamed live by theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation on television, radio and internet. It was viewed by an estimated 11.7 million people.[41]
The tour was profiled in the 2017 documentary filmLong Time Running, directed byJennifer Baichwal andNicholas de Pencier. The final concert was released on DVD under the titleA National Celebration on December 24, 2017.[42]
In September 2016, Downie announced he would release a new solo album,Secret Path in October.[43] The album was accompanied by agraphic novel on which he collaborated withJeff Lemire,[43] and an animated television film which aired onCBC Television. He also performed a few live shows to support the album, with supporting musiciansKevin Drew,Charles Spearin,Dave Hamelin,Kevin Hearn andJosh Finlayson.[44]
At the6th Canadian Screen Awards in 2018, Downie posthumously won twoCanadian Screen Awards for the television version ofSecret Path. The program won theDonald Brittain Award for Best Political or Social Documentary Program[45] and Best Music in a Non-Fiction Program.[46] At the7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019, two additional awards were won byGord Downie's Secret Path in Concert, the CBC Television broadcast of Downie's 2016Roy Thomson Hall performance of the album.[47]
In September 2017, Downie announced what would be his final solo double-album titledIntroduce Yerself; it was released on October 27, 2017, ten days after Downie's death.[48][49][50]
At theJuno Awards of 2018, the album won theJuno Award forAdult Alternative Album of the Year, Downie and Drew wonSongwriter of the Year for "A Natural", "Introduce Yerself" and "The North",[51] and Downie won theArtist of the Year. In a tribute to Downie at the Juno Awards ceremony,Sarah Harmer,Dallas Green andKevin Hearn performed a medley of the album's title track with the Tragically Hip song "Bobcaygeon".
Downie was married to Laura Leigh Usher,[52] herself a breast cancer survivor.[53] They had four children.[54] Downie and Usher separated in 2015 before Downie's cancer diagnosis.[55] They were not divorced at the time of Downie's death and had remained close friends.[56] Under the stage name Kaya Usher, she released her own debut album as a singer,All This Is, in 2021 with the participation of two of their four children; some of the tracks feature Usher performing with a guitar that had once belonged to Downie.[57]
Downie was the godson ofHarry Sinden, a former hockey coach, general manager and president of theBoston Bruins.[58]
Downie died ofglioblastoma, a type of brain cancer, on October 17, 2017, at the age of 53 in Toronto.[59][60][61] The surviving members of the Tragically Hip made the news of his death public the next morning by sharing an official statement from his family on their website:[60]
Last night Gord quietly passed away with his beloved children and family close by.
Gord knew this day was coming – his response was to spend this precious time as he always had – making music, making memories and expressing deep gratitude to his family and friends for a life well lived, often sealing it with a kiss ... on the lips. Gord said he had lived many lives. As a musician, he lived "the life" for over 30 years, lucky to do most of it with his high school buddies. At home, he worked just as tirelessly at being a good father, son, brother, husband and friend. No one worked harder on every part of their life than Gord. No one.
We would like to thank all the kind folks at KGH and Sunnybrook, Gord's bandmates, management team, friends and fans. Thank you for all the help and support over the past two years.
Thank you everyone for all the respect, admiration and love you have given Gord throughout the years – those tender offerings touched his heart and he takes them with him now as he walks among the stars.
— The Downie Family, a statement on the Tragically Hip website[62]
Upon hearing the news, Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau released a tribute statement on his official website.[63] Later in the day, he held a press conference atParliament Hill at which he tearfully remembered Downie as "Our buddy Gord, who loved this country with everything he had—and not just loved it in a nebulous, 'Oh, I love Canada' way. He loved every hidden corner, every story, every aspect of this country that he celebrated his whole life."[64]Canadian MPTony Clement called upon the government to consider holding astate funeral for Downie, stating "I think he matters that much to Canadians."[65] TheHouse of Commons observed amoment of silence.[66]
Downie was widely mourned in Canada.[67] The CBC news broadcast,The National, spent 40 of its sixty-minute broadcast discussing Gord and The Hip. Several prominent Canadians, including actorsRyan Reynolds andSeth Rogen; Toronto mayorJohn Tory; singersk.d. lang andNeil Young; rapperDrake; and the rock groupRush, remembered Downie on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.[68] Additionally, severalNational Hockey League teams and players, as well as the league itself, paid tribute to Downie through social media, owing to the high popularity of the Tragically Hip's music among Canadian professional hockey players.[69] TheToronto Maple Leafs honoured Downie with a moment of silence before their game on October 18, during which the retired-jersey banner forBill Barilko – whom Downie had written about in the Tragically Hip song "Fifty Mission Cap" – was lowered from the rafters of theAir Canada Centre.[70]
Residents of the Ontario village ofBobcaygeon, which Downie had written about inthe song of the same name, held acandlelight vigil for him the night after his death;[71] a large public gathering also took place atSpringer Market Square in the band's hometown of Kingston.[citation needed]
In Kingston, MayorBryan Paterson issued a statement, laid a wreath in Springer Market Square near City Hall, and signed a condolence banner.Kingston Transit buses displayed "GORD, WE'LL MISS YOU" on their electronic destination signs, alternately with the regular route number and name display.[citation needed]
Canadian radio stations responded heavily to Downie's death, with early figures indicating the band's radio airplay on October 18 increased 1,500 percent compared to a normal day.[72] Most rock radio stations dropped regular programming to shift to an all-Tragically Hip format for the day,[73][74] and some further announced that they would continue the all-Hip format through the weekend until the morning of 23 October.[75] Several stations, includingCHEZ-FM inOttawa,CFRQ-FM inHalifax,[73]CJRQ-FM inSudbury,[75]CJQQ-FM inTimmins,CKEZ-FM inNew Glasgow andCIKR-FM in the Tragically Hip's hometown of Kingston[76] dropped their regular names to temporarily rebrand themselves as "Gord FM".
Stations in other formats, such as contemporary hit radio, adult contemporary or country music, typically did not suspend their normal playlists, but still added some Tragically Hip songs to the day's rotation. "Ahead by a Century" was the single most-played song on Canadian radio on the day Downie's death was announced.[77]
CBC Radio preempted some of its regular programming in favour of a Downie tribute special hosted byRich Terfry;[78] although news of Downie's death broke just 20 minutes before airtime, CBC Radio One's entertainment magazine showQ dropped its planned lineup in favour of a live Downie tribute special.[79]
In the wake of Downie's death,CTV rescheduled the planned broadcast premiere ofLong Time Running, a documentary film byJennifer Baichwal andNicholas de Pencier about the Man Machine Poem Tour of 2016, from November 12 to October 20.CBC Television broadcast his soloRoy Thomson Hall concert ofSecret Path on October 22.[80]
Arjun Sahgal, an oncologist with the Sunnybrook Hospital who had been involved in treating Downie after his cancer diagnosis, lauded Downie's strength and courage in continuing to tour, make music and use his fame to publicize both cancer awareness and indigenous reconciliation issues, and called Downie "aTerry Fox in the modern day".[81]
In 2018, two recordings by Downie, "The East Wind" and "At the Quinte Hotel", were released on the compilation albumThe Al Purdy Songbook.[82] A different recording of "The East Wind" appeared onThe Grand Bounce, and "At the Quinte Hotel" was previously released in video form, but never in an audio recording.
In June 2020, the Tragically Hip and manager Jake Gold announced that they were undertaking an "archaeological dig" to select music and memorabilia from the band's archives for future release.[83]
In August, Downie's Twitter account was reactivated, and began posting a series of teaser photographs of handwritten song lyrics, accompanied by numbers that appeared to be a calendar countdown to the date of October 15.[84] On September 21, it was confirmed thatAway Is Mine, an album comprising the last songs Downie recorded in his lifetime, will be released on October 16.[85] The album is co-written with Josh Finlayson, a frequent collaborator, and is accompanied with an acoustic version of all the produced tracks. Also, a series of music videos for all the songs on the album were created by Canadian artists and released onYouTube.[85]
In October 2022, the song "Lustre Parfait" was released to streaming services as a preview of an album collecting various previously unreleased songs that Downie had recorded withBob Rock.[86] The album, titledLustre Parfait, was released on May 5th, 2023.[87]
| Year | Album | CAN [88] |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Coke Machine Glow | 26 |
| 2003 | Battle of the Nudes | 33 |
| 2010 | The Grand Bounce (with the Country of Miracles) | 8 |
| 2014 | And the Conquering Sun (withthe Sadies) | 10 |
| 2016 | Secret Path | 4 |
| 2017 | Introduce Yerself | 1 |
| 2020 | Away Is Mine | 3 |
| 2021 | Coke Machine Glow: Songwriters' Cabal | 10 |
| 2023 | Lustre Parfait (withBob Rock) | 25 |
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