That's really compelling to me." Last night, Gord quietly passed away with his beloved children and family close by, his familywrote in a statement. As a musician, he lived the life for over 30 years, lucky to do most of it with his high school buddies. Several prominent Canadians, including actors Ryan Reynolds and Seth Rogen, Toronto mayor John Tory, singers k.d. Downie was born in Kingston and grew up in nearby Amherstview playing hockey and music. He also called Downie "the greatest frontman this country has ever produced.". [31], Downie, along with his Tragically Hip bandmates, was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada on June19, 2017, for "their contribution to Canadian music and for their support of various social and environmental causes". Brad Wheeler tells his. Downie dismissed questions about why the band didn't break big in the U.S., telling CBC that he felt successful after the band's first practice. He called concert touring "grunt work," and talked about building the fan base one person at a time. Bob Berg/Getty. A childrens choir sang The Stranger, the opening track from Secret Path. It's not easy and, what can you say, there's a lot of pain without really going back and digging it up.". [29], In May 2016, Downie and his bandmates received honorary degrees from Queen's University. or somewhat similarly minded mainstream artists like John Mellencamp. 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. Gord Downie on Apple Music Imagine if they were part of us and we them, how incredibly cool it would make us? "His main focus was the release of Secret Path," says Gord's brother, Patrick Downie. Post navigation Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell deserve to be read on the page just as often as you play their recordsbut they dont play rock music. " [Gord] is the right person to tell the story," she says, "because the Creator chose him. ", Audience Relations, CBC P.O. Downie spent his final months speaking out in support of Indigenous people, declaring: "Canada is not Canada. 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. 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. The group gigged around Canada throughout the Eighties and eventually earned a record contract after then-MCA president Bruce Dickinson caught them live in Toronto. They're writing all the music and I'm writing all the lyrics and we're coming up with some neat stuff. In 2005, the band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. 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.". Gord Downie's legacy. Gordon Edgar Downie was born in Amherstview, Ontario, and raised in Kingston, Ontario, along with his brothers Mike and Patrick, and sisters Charlyn and Paula. [43], In September 2017, Downie announced what would be his final solo double-album titled Introduce Yerself; it was released on October27, 2017, ten days after Downie's death.[44][45][46]. In the middle of the set, Downie made a plea for reconciliation with Canadas Indigenous peoples, calling out the Prime Minister by name. He was the singer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, which he fronted from its formation in 1984 until his death in 2017. A young drummer in Grade 9, Johnny Fay, watched with interest. Canadian rock legend diagnosed with brain cancer in 2015. 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. 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. To play live, he formed a band featuring members of the Odds, the Rheostatics, Erics Trip, Dinner is Ruined, and the Skydiggers. No matter how opaque or directly critical of Canadian history he may have been, Downie faced a sea of literal flag-waving at almost every single showespecially at shows not on Canadian soil. [51] They were not divorced at the time of Downie's death and had remained close friends. At the Assembly of First Nations in Gatineau, Quebec, on December 6, 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. The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time The 100 Best Albums of 2022, Speaking with The New York Times around the bands final show, Broken Social Scenes Kevin Drew summed up the Tragically Hips influence: Were a country that hasnt really embraced its history just yet. Our music is entirely different. In the space of a month, he transformed the half-century-old tale of Chanie Wenjacka 12-year-old boy who froze to death running away from residential school in 1966into a current concern. That's a strange and comforting thing to me. Each night, Downie took to the stage dressed in metallic leather suits and feather-adorned hats, performing hits from the Tragically Hip's entire discography. Gord Downie, Soundtrack: Jumper. 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.. Downie was married to Laura Leigh Usher,[48] herself a breast cancer survivor. Gord Downie: In my mind, there's always a TV flickering away in the corner of every song. Terfry collaborated with Downie on the song "Whispers of the Waves" off the album 20 Odd Years. Tragically Hip front-man Gord Downie's brother Mike talks about the CBC documentary 'Finding The Secret Path.' "In many ways, Mike is in the trenches, and I think that's really helped him cope with the pain. On the evening of October 17th, 2017, Downie passed away at the age of 53. 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. The Tragically Hip released their first EP in December 1987; a year after that, they headed down to Memphis to record 1989s Up to Herewhich would become one of two Hip albums to eventually sell more than a million copies in Canada. It's a story that gripped Downie, even as he struggled with the brain tumour that was killing him. he asked an interviewer from the Toronto Sun. 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. Gord Downie is the late lead singer and songwriter of rock giants The Tragically Hip. As original material slowly seeped its way into the set, it was the other Gord, Sinclair, who wrote most of the lyrics. Thank you for all the help and support over the past two years. Updated at 11:10 a.m. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in attendance and the Toronto Police Department summed up the events magnitude with a simple tweet: Dear world, Please be advised that Canada will be closed tonight at 8:30 p.m. Have a #TragicallyHip day.. Another 11.7 million watched a CBC broadcast of the concert, with hundreds of viewing parties held in public parks, squares, movie theatres, bars and restaurants across Canada. Downies lyrics were often packed with references to Canadian totems and history, though he approached both with an appreciation for lore and a cautionary eye towards reality. Lets not celebrate the last 150 years, Downie told a Toronto audience last October. [6] In high school, Downie was the frontman for a band called the Slinks performing at the KCVI Variety show and rivaling older members Rob Baker and Gord Sinclair's band the Rodents. Its focus is on youth learning and combining Cree education with the contemporary world. Audience Relations, CBC P.O. In addition to the Tragically Hip's performance, Downie sang a song with a local band, Northern Revolution. Comments are welcome while open. Downies privacy was put to the test in 2015, when the Huffington Post ran a story about how his Toronto home had recently sold for under the asking priceunheard of in the citys real estate market. Gord Downie, troubadour of Canada, charmed and challenged a nation Send us a tip using our anonymous form. The program won the Donald Brittain Award for Best Political or Social Documentary Program[41] and Best Music in a Non-Fiction Program. Months of craniotomies, chemo and radiation therapy followed. 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. 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. A Kingston hospital diagnosed the 52-year-old singer with primary glioblastoma, an aggressive and terminal brain cancer. The last 150 years arent as much worth celebrating as we think, Downie said. In 2008, Downie appeared as a guest vocalist on City and Colour's single "Sleeping Sickness". He usually started with a "Hello," and often ended with a variation on "Good night, music lovers," but what would happen in between was anyone's guess. Last night Gord quietly passed away with his beloved children and family close by. You are sitting on a project that might change the cultural landscape of First Nations for decades to come . He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and popular artists in Canadian music history.[2]. Four of those five young men played their first gig as the Tragically Hip in November 1984, in a small white room at the Kingston Artists Association. Some Canadians, being a cautious bunch, flew from Ontario to B.C. Pseudonyms will no longer be permitted. More recently, he and other members of the band appeared in the episode of Trailer Park Boys entitled "Say Goodnight to the Bad Guys", in which he is harassed while eating a bologna sandwich at a singles dance. The band even has its own postage stamp and a street named after it, Tragically Hip Way, in Kingston, Ont. Gord Downie passed away a year ago on October 17, 2017. . However, the band never quite took. 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. Tragically Hip frontman wants the story of Chanie Wenjack, an Indigenous boy who died running away from a residential school in northern Ontario, to be his legacy project, Gord Downie talks about cancer, his recent cross-country tour and why he's focusing on Indigenous issues, Tragically Hip singer addresses the crowd at Saturday's show in Kingston. Downie "was a great communicator," Gold said. "You know, I feel enough pain without having to go back and see some of the images, or hear the music and things like that. [42] At the 7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019, two additional awards were won by Gord Downie's Secret Path in Concert, the CBC Television broadcast of Downie's 2016 Roy Thomson Hall performance of the album. See where those sparks land. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Create the spark. He was the poet who once asked, When are you thinking of disappearing? Gord Downie was born on February 6, 1964 in Amherstview, Ontario, Canada. Nickelback? Gord Downie - Canadian History Ehx 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. ", After his final appearances with the Tragically Hip, Downie released Secret Path, a multimedia project that tells the tragic tale of 12-year-old Chanie Wenjack, who died of exposure and hunger in 1966 after running away from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School in Kenora, Ont. Downie could at least boast that he had a family connection to hockey royalty, in Sinden. When are you falling off the map? He was the singer who once sang, Do I make you scared? As a musician, he lived "the life" for over 30 years, lucky to do most of it with his high school buddies. He listened to everything he could in his older sister's 45 collection, and used his allowance to buy records. Tragically Hip front-man Gord Downie's brother Patrick on why he and his brother Mike are working so hard to preserve the singer's legacy. St. Joseph Communications uses cookies for personalization, to customize its online advertisements, and for other purposes. The people Ive met, theyre so beautiful.. Finding the Secret Path premieres . [39] The album was accompanied by a graphic novel on which he collaborated with Jeff Lemire,[39] and an animated television film which aired on CBC Television. to catch the first shows of the tour, just in case he didnt make it home. Tragically Hip's Gord Downie dead at 53 | CBC News Loaded. "The first time we heard him open his mouth, we just went, holy shit. At the end of their set that night, the whole place stood up and clapped and it was undeniable if you were in the room that night that this was something special.". At home, he worked just as tirelessly at being a good father, son, brother, husband and friend. [citation needed], Downie died of glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer, on October 17, 2017, at the age of 53 in Toronto. It was viewed by an estimated 11.7 million people. It shouldnt have surprised us. 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. They were too traditional and aspirational to be punk or alternative, and yet they were raw enough that they immediately stood out on any mainstream radio playlist. The band also earned 16 Juno Awards the most ever for a band and the fourth-most ever for an artist picking up their last two in April for Group of the Year and Rock Album of the Year for Man Machine Poem. The backing musicians, credited as the Goddamned Band, consisted of indie rock band the Dinner Is Ruined, Josh Finlayson of Skydiggers and singer-songwriter Julie Doiron. Usher was a 20-year-old student at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ont. I came from a rural area, he once recalled. Then he got up, silently, walked over to a pile of wood, picked up two logs, and returned to put them on the fire. To the best of my internet sleuthing, I was unable to find anything online directing me to the most appropriate place to do . The Tragically Hip was formed in 1984 and went on to become a decidedly Canadian success story. The Bodie Group is composed of five patented claims and 224.45 acres under mineral prospecting lease from the State of Washington. The album was scheduled for release on October 27th. SHAPIRO: In. [9], Downie began pursuing a solo career with the release of Coke Machine Glow in 2001. Gordon Downie (known widely as Gord Downie) was born in Amherstview, Ontario, and raised in Kingston, Ontario, along with his brothers Mike and Patrick, and sisters Charlyn and Paula. It would turn out to be the last show of his bands 30-year, multi-million-selling, award-winning career, a fate many suspected at the time. Even the most cursory walk through his discography showed a man wrestling with notions of mortality in his work for years. Edgar died in November 2015. Last year, he releaseda solo project, Secret Path, and announced the 23-track double-LP, Introduce Yerself last month. The Hip's final tour launched in Victoria in late July 2016, stopping in eight other Canadian cities, before wrapping up in front of an emotionally charged crowd in the band's hometown of Kingston about a month later.