Gary Lee Weinrib, OC, better known as Geddy Lee (b. July 29, 1953), is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush. Lee joined what would become Rush in September 1968, at the request of his childhood friend Alex Lifeson, replacing original bassist and frontman Jeff Jones.
An award-winning musician, Lee's style, technique, and skill on the bass guitar have inspired rock and heavy metal musicians, such as Steve Harris of Iron Maiden, John Myung of Dream Theater, Les Claypool of Primus, Cliff Burton of Metallica, and Juan Alderete of The Mars Volta.
In addition to his composing, arranging, and performing duties for Rush, Lee has produced for various other bands, including Rocket Science. Lee's first solo effort, My Favorite Headache, was released 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 trio was the first rock band to be so honored, as a group.
Lee is ranked 13th by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal vocalists of all time.
Lee and the rest of the band recently finished touring North and South America on the Time Machine Tour, which finished October 17 in Santiago, Chile.
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Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart. The band and its membership went through a number of re-configurations between 1968 and 1974, achieving their current form when Peart replaced original drummer John Rutsey in July 1974, two weeks before the group's first United States tour.
Since the release of the band's self-titled debut album in March 1974, Rush has become known for the instrumental skills of its members, complex compositions, and eclectic lyrical motifs drawing heavily on science fiction, fantasy, and philosophy, as well as addressing humanitarian, social, emotional, and environmental concerns.
Musically, Rush's style has changed over the years, beginning in the vein of blues-inspired rock on their first album, then encompassing hard rock, progressive rock, and a period with heavy use of synthesizers. They have been cited as an influence by various musical artists, including Metallica, Primus, and The Smashing Pumpkins -- as well as progressive metal bands such as Dream Theater and Symphony X.
Rush has won a number of Juno Awards, and was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1994. Over their careers, the members of Rush have been acknowledged as some of the most proficient players on their respective instruments, with each band member winning numerous awards in magazine readers' polls. As a group, Rush possesses 24 gold records and 14 platinum (3 multi-platinum) records.
Rush's sales statistics place them third behind The Beatles and The Rolling Stones for the most consecutive gold or platinum studio albums by a rock band.
Rush also ranks 79th in U.S. album sales with 25 million units.
Although total worldwide album sales are not calculated by any single entity, as of 2004 several industry sources estimated Rush's total worldwide album sales at over 40 million units.
The band just recently finished touring on the first leg of the Time Machine Tour, which ran through North and South America and finished October 17, 2010. The band is scheduled to expand the tour through Europe in the Spring of 2011 and is expected to continue writing and recording their next studio album, Clockwork Angels, for release some time in 2011.
Permanent Waves: Jacob's Ladder (1980)
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The Great White North is a Canadian comedy album by the fictional television characters Bob and Doug McKenzie (portrayed by actors Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas), released in 1981 by Anthem Records (ANR-1-1036) and distributed in the United States by Mercury Records (SRM-1-4034). The title is a popular nickname for Canada.
At least one million copies of the album were sold within North America, 350,000 of these within Canada alone which earned a triple-platinum certification from the Canadian Recording Industry Association.
The Great White North entered the RPM Canadian album charts at #3 on 12 December 1981 and rose to the #1 position the following week where it remained until 23 January 1982.
Overall, RPM ranked the album #40 of albums released in Canada during 1981.
The Great White North peaked at number 8 on the American Billboard 200 album chart in 1982.
The single, Take Off, peaked at number 16 on the Billboard 100 singles chart in March 1982.[8]
[8955 Van Halen / 8953 Geddy Lee / 8953 Elfman]
