Rush

About

Rush was a Canadian rock band formed in Toronto in 1968 that primarily comprised Geddy Lee (vocals, bass guitar, keyboards), Alex Lifeson (guitar) and Neil Peart (drums, percussion). The band’s original line-up comprised Lifeson, drummer John Rutsey, and bassist and vocalist Jeff Jones, whom Lee immediately replaced. After Lee joined, the band went through a few line-up changes before arriving at its classic power trio line-up with the addition of Peart in July 1974, who replaced Rutsey four months after the release of their self-titled debut album; this line-up was kept intact for the remainder of the band’s career. Rush first achieved moderate success with their second album, Fly by Night (1975). The commercial failure of their next album Caress of Steel, released seven months after Fly by Night, resulted in the band almost getting dropped from their then-record label Mercury Records. Rush’s fourth album, 2112 (1976), reignited their popularity, becoming their first album to enter the top five on the Canadian charts. Their next two albums, A Farewell to Kings (1977) and Hemispheres (1978), were also successful, with the former becoming Rush’s first to enter the UK charts. The band saw their furthest commercial success throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with most albums charting highly in Canada, the US and the UK, including Permanent Waves (1980), Moving Pictures (1981), Signals (1982), Grace Under Pressure (1984), Roll the Bones (1991), Counterparts (1993) and Test for Echo (1996). Rush continued to record and perform until 1997, after which the band went on a four-year hiatus due to personal tragedies in Peart’s life. The trio regrouped in 2001 and released three more studio albums: Vapor Trails (2002), Snakes & Arrows (2007), and Clockwork Angels (2012). Rush performed their final concerts in 2015, with Peart retiring from music later that year. Lifeson later commented in January 2018 that the band decided not to resume activity following the R40 Tour, which was later cemented by Peart’s death from glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer, on January 7, 2020, at the age of 67. Lee and Lifeson have continued to periodically work together since Peart’s death, including performing at the 25th anniversary celebration of South Park and tributes to then-recently deceased Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins in 2022. Rush were known for their virtuosic musicianship, complex compositions and eclectic lyrical motifs drawing heavily on science fiction, fantasy and philosophy. The band’s style changed over the years, from a blues-inspired hard rock beginning, later moving into progressive rock, then a period in the 1980s marked by heavy use of synthesizers, before returning to guitar-driven hard rock at the end of the 1980s. Clockwork Angels marked a return to progressive rock. The members of Rush have been acknowledged as some of the most proficient players on their respective instruments, with each winning numerous awards in magazine readers’ polls over the years. As of 2022, Rush ranks 84th in the US with sales of 26 million albums and industry sources estimate their total worldwide album sales at over 42 million. They have been awarded 14 platinum and 3 multi-platinum albums in the US and 17 platinum albums in Canada. Rush were nominated for seven Grammy Awards, won several Juno Awards, and won an International Achievement Award at the 2009 SOCAN Awards. The band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. Some consider Rush to be one of the greatest rock bands of all time.

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