RIP Rush’s Neil Peart, dead of brain cancer at age 67.
Goddammit. The man was my drumming hero. And how he’s gone.
I’d heard rumours that Neil wasn’t well, including whispers that he had brain cancer. But ranks closed tight around him, despite the fact that he’d been sick for three-and-a-half years.
Neil died January 7 in Santa Monica, California. Brain cancer. This has been confirmed by his personal manager, Elliot Mintz and Meg Symsyk, Rush’s media spokesperson. (We’re not sure what kind of brain cancer, although there’s chatter about glioblastoma, the same thing that killed Gord Downie. And what is it with glioblastoma and musicians?)
Fans knew that Neil had been suffering from arthritis, a very common affliction for hard-hitting drummers. That was the reason given for Rush packing it in after the end of the R40 tour in Los Angeles on August 1, 2015. We also know that he suffered from a bad foot infection during that final tour.
And it wasn’t just that he’d retired from Rush, says Geddy Lee, but that he “retired from drumming.”
Information on his illness is still forthcoming.
Peart was born in Hamilton on September 12, 1952, and later moved with his family to St. Catharines. He started drum lessons at age 13 and became a fan of everyone from Gene Krupa to Keith Moon to Ginger Baker to John Bonham. After a stint living in England in the early 70s, he moved back to Ontario where he took a job at his dad’s farm implement dealership.
In July of 1974, he auditioned to replace John Rutsey in an unknown band called Rush and got the gig just in time to write and record the group’s second album, Fly By Night. His style instantly changed the band’s sound and he became their primary lyricist.
Rush really began to click after the 2112 album in 1976. How many millions of kids got into drums because of what Neil did on the “Overture?”
How many pieces of music can incorporate everything from prog rock to sci-fi to a novel from Ayn Rand? Jeezus. Is there a drummer that’s inspired more air drummers?
When I was in high school, all my nerdy friends would come over to my place for lunch. We’d play ping-pong and listen to whatever new records I had bought. One day, I cracked open the new Rush album, Permanent Waves. Side one track one was “The Spirit of Radio.”
Reading through the lyric sheet, I realized that the song was about a real radio station in Brampton, Ontario. I remember thinking, “Gee, it would be cool to work there one day.” Little did I know that six years later I would, starting an association with CFNY/102.1 the Edge that continues today.
Here’s the full story of how that song came about.
Around the same time, I was working as a drum teacher at place at Main and Inkster in Winnipeg called Drums Unlimited. On a night Rush was in town, he bet me that I couldn’t get Neil to sign a drum head that we could display in the shop. Challenge accepted.
I took a head–Remo, I believe–down to the old Winnipeg arena. I bluffed myself as far as I could into the backstage area, saying that Neil needed this head for his kit. Somehow, I got to one of the roadies who took it back to the dressing room. Neil must have just laughed. He signed the skin. It hung in the shop for years.
In later years, Rush embraced their sense of humour. If you were at any shows since about 2005 would have seen some really funny interstitial videos.
Rush even appeared in a 2009 comedy called I Love You, Man, which confirmed the pronunciation of Neil’s last name for once and for all. It’s “Peert,” not “Pert.”
Neil was an extremely introverted and private person. In all the years I intersected with Rush, I only ever met Geddy and Alex. Even when I did things with their management company, I never got to meet Neil. It was one of my great bucket list things, right up there with meeting Mick Jagger and Keef. Damn.
I did a tour of the two kits Neil used on the R40 tour, thanks to his drum tech. No Neil, though.
It’s not that Neil never did any interviews. He did. They were just very, very rare.
Fans will remember that Neil’s 19-year-old daughter Selena died in a single car accident on August 10, 1997, when she was driving to university. Five months later, Neil’s common-law wife of 23 years, Jackie, died of cancer. That caused Neil to temporarily retire from Rush so he could tour North America by motorcycle to help straighten out his head.
That worked. He remarried in 2000 and returned to Rush in 2001, staying with them until that August night in 2015, the last show of the R40 tour.
And here is Neil’s last-ever drum solo as part of Rush.
Neil is survived by his wife Carrie and his daughter Olivia.
Read more about Neil at his website.
Check out some of the tributes that have come in.
Here’s more Neil.
My name is Graham (Hammer) and Neil was my idol for 30years and I have drummed along time to Rush music which helped me enhance my skills. My two all time drumming idols Neil Peart and Nicks McBrain of Iron Maiden, thank you for being the best musicians in my world!!🥁🎼
Unbelievable. Just like Neil to keep it a secret. Big fan since the mid-70’s. RIP.
Alan, can you please spell check the announcement. Should be Peart not “Pearl” in the second last paragraph
I will fix. Writing quickly.
Thanks… Sad Day!!
this is very tragic,so sad .RIP Mr Peart.
All of us. Every drummer learned from the master. Will be missed greatly and never replaced.
He was a reluctant Canadian institution. As great as he was, he seemed to avoid the limelight. The grandest on the grandest stages, he never sought the grandeur. Poetic in his lyrics, Neil was concise and clinical when conversing. He was legendary in stature, and hallowed as god-like in reverence, but seemed content with his placement on the earth. For a man who had achieved so much, and suffered so greatly, he remained steadfast in his mission…to be a human.
It comes as little surprise to me that he died quietly and privately. It comes as no surprise that he prefers no fanfare as he makes his transition toward his ultimate peace. He didn’t curse the ground of those who chose Ginger, Ringo, Keith and John before him. He didn’t smite the philistines that waited years to bestow honours on he and his righteous brethren. He didn’t ask for us to pronounce his name right during a show or interview. He just gave that acknowledging grin.
He was the best that God could put on this planet…and only he had to know.
I don’t understand this feeling I have now. I feel selfish for his leaving. I feel empty that I don’t have him anymore. I feel angry that he couldn’t share his pain. I feel empowered that someone that I experienced for close to four decades, could show me this humanity.
All this, and he could play the shit out of a drum kit.
I only got to know him as an icon. A mercurial talent. A lyrical genius. A musical god. A photo on an inner sleeve.
I wish I could have known him as a friend.
I know he won’t be lonely, and he won’t suffer anymore. I’d like to think that he will be surrounded by the lyrics he couldn’t find. He’ll be happy.
That makes me happy.
Duane.
Wonderful, Duane. 💔
Duane, I think you just penned Peart’s ultimate eulogy. What a perfect tribute.
Great piece on a tough day. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Peart for making my life more pleasant. I really believe you and your lyrics made a difference in my life. Thank you!
RIP, Neil Peart: awesome & inspiring not just a lyricist & musician, but as a human being
and in the end no matter how it’s written elsewhere his heart was Canadian.. in it ‘s modesty , in it’s drive, in it’s lyricism and poesy. The world knows you and us through you. We all owe you and ‘own’ a bit of you as Canadians. Thanks for the trip, you were a great guide in this voyage. May the pain be gone, may you meet your loved ones once again.