Gord Downie is the late lead singer and songwriter of rock giants The Tragically Hip. I think rock 'n' roll is the same. Downie had cameo appearances in Men with Brooms, in which the Tragically Hip play a curling team. Though he wasn't afraid to go it alone as a solo artist, Downie's legacy will always be tied most closely with the Tragically Hip. A childrens choir sang The Stranger, the opening track from Secret Path. Gordon Edgar Downie was one of the most riveting and mystifying performers in rocknroll history. Gord said he had lived many lives. When he wasnt doing that, he directed his attention to environmental issues, specifically those endorsed by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, a Canadian water charity run by an old Queens University classmate, Mark Mattson. He says that watching it stirs a mixture of sadness and pride. Gord Downie, troubadour of Canada, charmed and challenged a nation After a long battle with cancer, the Tragically Hip frontman died among his family on Tuesday night. Downies on-stage improvisations were a principal part of the bands appeal from day one, though he was not yet a lyricist. I wouldnt say its given me a stigma, but its something thats always stayed with me, not actually being from Kingston. His outsider status became part of his public identity: the poet in the bar band; the rock star slumming it with indie kids whilecozying up to intelligentsia; the artist with a commercially successful cushion who thrived on continuing to challenge himself with new collaborators and varied disciplines like dance, painting, and acting. On the evening of October 17th, 2017, Downie passed away at the age of 53. [38], In September 2016, Downie announced he would release a new solo album, Secret Path in October. Create the spark. "It takes ahold of you. Gord Downie's brother Mike describes what the Tragically Hip's front-man went through to keep pushing his projects ahead during his final struggle with a terminal brain tumour. A guerrilla act of love to show the rest of the country what strength and artistry, grace and humour the Cree possess." Downie spent his final months speaking out in support of Indigenous people, declaring: "Canada is not Canada. It is a priority for CBC to create products that are accessible to all in Canada including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges. And all you hear are the rusty breezes pushing around weathervane Jesus. "Rock 'n' roll is not unlike love," he told music writer Michael Barclay in 2000. Downie was born on Feb. 6, 1964, in Amherstview, Ont., just slightly west of Kingston, to Lorna and Edgar, a travelling salesman turned real estate developer. He saw it as something that I think made sense to him as his life was coming to an end.". But he did, at the final Tragically Hip show at the K-Rock Centre in Kingston on Aug. 20broadcast live on the CBC to an estimated 11.7 million viewers, with 20,000 people from across the continent assembled in Kingstons Springer Market Square to celebrate. Where some go to get lost. But neither video nor radio was responsible for the bands rapid ascent: it was their live performances, where Downies unusual charisma electrified everyone who piled into either biker bars or student pubs to see them. Downie was also featured in the sitcom Corner Gas in the episode "Rock On!" 1. He was a board member of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper. He was transfixed by Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old Anishinaabe residential school student who died of hunger and exhaustion while trying to walk 600 km home to his family. Downie had an aggressive and incurable form of brain cancer called glioblastoma, which he discovered after a seizure in December 2015. Those tender offerings touched his heart and he takes them with him now as he walks among the stars.. And Then There Was David Lindley, See the Beths Deliver Refreshing 'Expert in a Dying Field' Mini-Set on 'CBS Mornings', The YSL Case Is Stretching Fulton County's Justice System to Its Breaking Point, Trump Promises to Continue Presidential Campaign if Indicted, Then Delivers a Snoozy CPAC Speech, NBA 'Investigating,' Team Suspends Ja Morant After Allegedly Flashing Gun on Social Media. If anything, the Hip's lack of success in the U.S. has only made Canadians more protective of them. Thank you for all the help and support over the past two years. He was married to Laura Leigh Usher. Canadians learned of Downie's illness on May 24 last year the same day the rest of the rock group,Paul Langlois, Rob Baker, Gord Sinclair and Johnny Fay,announced that the Kingston, Ont.-based band would head out on a final summer tour "for Gord, and for all of us.". "I think he really tried to put himself in those shoes and imagine what that was like," Mike says. Working with Gold and Gregg, the Hip signed a record deal with MCA that led to an eponymous 1987 EP, but the band didn't start to become a household name until 1989's Up to Here, which included the hits Blow at High Dough and New Orleans is Sinking, both of which still get heavy play on Canadian radio. Clockwise from left: Gord Downie, guitarist Gord Sinclair, guitarist Rob Baker, bassist Paul Langlois and drummer Johnny Fay. It's so important to the country that we get this right. In the bands first three years, they played 60s cover songs by the Rolling Stones, Van Morrisons Them, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye and the Monkees. His most famous Canadian collaborations are with Richard Terfry (better known as Buck 65), Dallas Green of City and Colour and Alexisonfire, the Sadies and Fucked Up. As their popularity in Canada grew, the Tragically Hip seemed primed to cross over in America, especially during alternative rocks Nineties heyday. (THE CANADIAN PRESS) Gord Downie, the Tragically Hip frontman who united a diverse array of music lovers with his commanding stage. 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. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time His family and managers said future releases are planned, including solo material and unreleased work with the Hip. The cause was terminal brain cancer. At the Assembly of First Nations in Gatineau, Quebec, on December6, 2016, National Chief Perry Bellegarde honoured Downie with an eagle feather, a symbol of the creator above, for his support of the Indigenous peoples of Canada. It was passed in December 2019, establishing the Poet Laureate of Ontario. Not surprisingly, Downie has cited all those as key influences, as well as David Byrne, Van Morrison and, yes, Jim Morrison; Downie sang a few Doors tunes . It's not easy and, what can you say, there's a lot of pain without really going back and digging it up.". Bellegarde also bestowed on Downie an honorary aboriginal name, Wicapi Omani, which is Lakota for "man who walks among the stars". It is a priority for CBC to create products that are accessible to all in Canada including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges. Tragically Hip lead singer Gord Downie performs with band members Paul Langlois, Gord Sinclair, Johnny Fay and Rob Baker at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre to kick off the bands latest Man Machine Poem tour in light of Downies brain cancer diagnosis, in Victoria, B.C., Canada July 22, 2016. Anyone who managed to catch him fronting the Tragically Hip in 1985, playing covers at a roadhouse in Renfrew, Ont., could tell you that. It was, in a way, a very Canadian approach to celebrity. [57] Later in the day, he held a press conference at Parliament Hill at which he tearfully remembered Downie as "Our buddy Gord, who loved this country with everything he hadand not just loved it in a nebulous, 'Oh, I love Canada' way. Youre family. And [doing it for] his own family as well, to put something in the coffers for his kids.. CBC broadcaster and musician Tom Power called them "Canada's local band." It's there all the time, tuned in to Fox News. Several prominent Canadians, including actors Ryan Reynolds and Seth Rogen, Toronto mayor John Tory, singers k.d. [34][35] Doctors at Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre confirmed the same day that it was a glioblastoma, which had responded favourably to radiation and chemotherapy treatment but was not curable. Sit down. [37], The tour was profiled in the 2017 documentary film Long Time Running, directed by Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier. Downie died of glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer, on October 17, 2017, at the age of 53 in Toronto. Now that he's gone, "letting go" is something that Gord Downie's brothers are also struggling with. The album was raw, experimental and far removed from the rock radio world the Hip inhabited: droning organs, atonal guitar screeches and accordions competed for sonic space with Downies vocals atop opiated folk-country songs. "Ahead by a Century" was the single most-played song on Canadian radio on the day Downie's death was announced. [6] The Tragically Hip quickly became famous once MCA Records president Bruce Dickinson saw them performing at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto and offered them a record deal. (He wasnt nominated at that years inaugural Griffin Prize for Poetry, but he did perform at the gala.) Lemire created a graphic novel inspired by Downie's songs, and its images were used to create the film. ", Mike says he hopes the film makes it clear that this idea, "meant a lot to this guy, he wasn't chasing causes around, this was really important. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and popular artists in Canadian music history.[2]. Days earlier, this quiet man had held much of the entire nation rapt, millions watching as he summoned all his strength to tackle his terminal condition, to fend backhowever brieflythe inevitability of death. At home, he worked just as tirelessly at being a good father, son, brother, husband and friend. As a musician, he lived "the life" for over 30 years, lucky to do most of it with his high school buddies. "Then for him to say, 'Look at this, this is our country too. They tapped into rocknrolls primal energy in ways that had been largely forgotten by the late 80s: they were a dressed-down, no-frills roadhouse bar band whose videos were rejected by MTV, a band whose sound was far removed from the eras pop stars, stadium rock, hair metal, aging Boomers, newer bluesy bandseven from alternative icons like R.E.M. That included only three live shows, in Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax, and appearances at the Ottawa WE Day event and Haydens Dream Serenade concert in Toronto. In front of an intimate crowd of 6,700 inside Kingston's K-Rock Centre, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Downie thanked the audience "for keeping me pushing" and used the opportunity to call for action on Indigenous issues. The hour-long film chronicles that last year of Gord Downie's life, and his determination to tell Chanie Wenjack's story: "It's such a simple story, that's part of its grasp," says Mike. In 2018, two recordings by Downie, "The East Wind" and "At the Quinte Hotel", were released on the compilation album The Al Purdy Songbook. Gordie doesnt like to be the centre of attention, added Lorna. Following the release of Man Machine Poem and the Tragically Hips final concert, Downie continued to work. Very quick question to anyone that might be able to answer it.. The more you dig, the more you get into it, the more awful it becomes and you start to realize what was going on for so many kids.". "That's kind of our job, to make sure that it's in place going forward, because I do think that he had an oversized impact on this country. Updated at 11:10 a.m. No other act of the day was embraced with the fervour and frenzy that Hip fans displayed toward Downie as a performer, but it was his lyrics that inflamed his fans. That same summer, the Tragically Hip released a new album, Man Machine Poem, and embarked on a lengthy Canadian tour that culminated in an emotional final show:a hometown gig at the Rogers K-Rock Centre in Kingston, Ontario. [34] The tour's final concert was held at the Rogers K-Rock Centre in Kingston, Ontario, on August 20 and was broadcast and streamed live by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on television, radio and internet. His third solo effort, The Grand Bounce, was released in 2010. The Tragically Hip announced his diagnosis on their website on May 24, 2016. [66] Most rock radio stations dropped regular programming to shift to an all-Tragically Hip format for the day,[67][68] and some further announced that they would continue the all-Hip format through the weekend until the morning of 23 October. Youre a rocknroll band. Solo albums were a pressure-release valve for Downie during the early 2000s, as the Hip became elder statesmen in danger of being taken for granted. Gord Downie was a haunting presence around Toronto in 2017: singing Lost Together with Blue Rodeo at Massey Hall, taking in a PJ Harvey show, embracing Drake at a Raptors game, posing with Bobby Orr. Gordon Edgar Downie CM (February 6, 1964 October 17, 2017) was a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, musician, writer and activist. Tragically Hip: Canada Waves Goodbye to a National Treasure. Not a word. Downie contained similar complexities: He was an everyman poet, seeming both aloof and down to earth, writing lyrics that rhymed "catharsis" with "my arse is." Over the course of his career, Downie released three other musically adventurous solo albums, a collaboration with Toronto roots-rock band the Sadies, and a book of poetry. And I'd hate for that to go away, especially with something that's so important, was so important to him. The last 150 years arent as much worth celebrating as we think, Downie said. The Hip, as they're often called, won 16 Juno awards (the most of any band) and received a raft of other honours, including the Order of Canada. It's the . Clockwise from left: Gord Downie, guitarist Gord Sinclair, guitarist Rob Baker, bassist Paul Langlois and drummer Johnny Fay. In his last public appearance, Downie appeared at a WE Day event as part of Canada150 in Ottawa on July 2, once again calling on Canadian youth to reckon with the legacy of residential schools. I came from a rural area, he once recalled. Gord Downie's not-so-Secret Path to truth and reconciliation Everything about itthe music, the film, the band, his performancemakes you want to pay attention By Michael Barclay October 22,. [22], In February 2012 in Fort 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's James Bay coast. Author Joseph 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. Even when he stepped outside the Tragically Hip, Gord Downie loved to make rock records, first and foremost. His godfather was future Boston Bruins coach and general manager Harry Sinden, and Downie enjoyed the national pastime as both a die-hard Bruins fan and a goalie who took his B-level team to a provincial championship. Downie said growing up on the shores of Lake Ontario had an impact on the way he viewed the environment, which led him to support the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper as a board member and to pay for renewable energy at his Toronto home. The Tragically Hip, photographed in New York in February 1992. In the middle of the set, Downie made a plea for reconciliation with Canadas Indigenous peoples, calling out the Prime Minister by name. Downie also appears in the Trailer Park Boys movie The Big Dirty, in which he and Alex Lifeson play a pair of police officers. [14] Gord did not rest from working for the issues he cared about, and his commitment and passion will continue to motivate Canadians for years to come He will be sorely missed.. Gord Downie, the Tragically Hip frontman who united a diverse array of music lovers with his commanding stage presence and Canadiana-laced lyrics, has died, Gord Downie remembered by fans, Canadians far and wide, Remembering Gord Downie: Watch our Olympic montages set to Tragically Hip songs, 'Words cannot express our sorrow': Northern Ontario First Nations mourn passing of Gord Downie, CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices. Were still trying to figure out what makes us Canadian, and we have one of the loudest neighbors in the world, so this band helped a country, and Gord helped people lyrically, slowly start to try to define themselves.. He is known for Jumper (2008), One Week (2008) and Ararat (2002). [53], Downie was the godson of Harry Sinden, a former hockey coach, general manager and president of the Boston Bruins. I think if I put myself out there like that, on the line, and make people emotionally connect with me, I feel like I couldnt ever do it again, because Id get bored or I just couldnt summon the same amount of emotion. [4][5] In Kingston, Downie attended the downtown high school Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute, where other members of the Tragically Hip also attended. He was 53. Gords command of language was profound. Terfry collaborated with Downie on the song "Whispers of the Waves" off the album 20 Odd Years. And it seems like you get up there every single time and give it!. "Who are you comparing us to?" The working men were going to work. He said he told Canadian stories because they were there to be told, and said he performed music because it was the ultimate medium for expressions of love. At home, he worked just as tirelessly at being a good father, son, brother, husband and friend. "It certainly took ahold of Gord, I think, because it's just so simple a boy trying to get home.
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