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. To play live, he formed a band featuring members of the Odds, the Rheostatics, Erics Trip, Dinner is Ruined, and the Skydiggers. [38], In September 2016, Downie announced he would release a new solo album, Secret Path in October. The bands management broke the news just after the May long weekend in 2016, while simultaneously announcing a tour to promote the new album. However, the band never quite took. READ MORE: Gord Downie calls out to Justin Trudeau during Tragically Hip's final show of tour. [8] Originally, the band covered popular British rock songs from the 1960s. Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip (Photo by Aven Hoffarth) One of the best things about Gord Downie was his thoughtfulness. Downie, who won two Junos for the 10-song solo album, thought of the Secret Path music, concerts and film created with artist Jeff Lemire as his legacy project. He was 53. "[59] The House of Commons observed a moment of silence. [76] A different recording of "The East Wind" appeared on The Grand Bounce, and "At the Quinte Hotel" was previously released in video form, but never in an audio recording. Then came May 24, 2016, when the band announced Downie's diagnosis of terminal brain cancer. [51] They were not divorced at the time of Downie's death and had remained close friends. In 2018, two recordings by Downie, "The East Wind" and "At the Quinte Hotel", were released on the compilation album The Al Purdy Songbook. 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. Over more than thirty years and across fourteen studio albums, Downie and his band of brothers built a legacy as the essential Canadian rock band. 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. ~ MacKenzie Wilson HOMETOWN Amherstview, Ontario, Canada BORN February 6, 1964 Similar Artists Gord Downie & The Country of Miracles The Tragically Hip Hayden Joel Plaskett Rheostatics Dan Mangan Matthew Good Matt Mays Arkells Wintersleep The group also has a Canadian Music Hall of Fame induction, a Governor General's Performing Arts Award, an honorary fellowship with the Royal Conservatory of Music and a star on Canada's Walk of Fame. After the final cross-country tour, all 17 Hip recordings (including box sets and live concerts) were back on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart as sales and downloads skyrocketed. "The first time we heard him open his mouth, we just went, holy shit. As original material slowly seeped its way into the set, it was the other Gord, Sinclair, who wrote most of the lyrics. Vandoliers Play Tennessee Concert in Dresses to Protest State's New Drag Bill We would like to thank all the kind folks at KGH and Sunnybrook, Gord's bandmates, management team, friends and fans. The band never reached the same sales figures it did with its first four full-length albums, but continued to make music that was generally well-received by critics and selling at platinum or multi-platinum levels. 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. All the while, he was writing and recording: with the Hip, keyboardist Kevin Hearn, avant-garde noisemakers Dinner is Ruined, and separate projects with producers Kevin Drew and Bob Rock. Downie also made a cameo appearance in the 2008 indie drama Nothing Really Matters, directed by Jean-Marc Pich. 1. Even the most cursory walk through his discography showed a man wrestling with notions of mortality in his work for years. Gord said he had lived many lives. [21] He was also a part of the Swim Drink Fish Music club, a project that unites artists and environmentalists in a music club to raise money for Waterkeeper organizations in Canada. In the latter part of the decade, he pushed the band to record two albums with Bob Rockwho produced albums by the likes of Metallica and Michael Bubleand he helped broaden the bands sonic palette. He was married to Laura Leigh Usher. It was a move unprecedented in music history: this was not a suicide, like with Kurt Cobain; this was not an addict flaming out in public, as Amy Winehouse did; this was not an artist whose later work showed clear signs of physical decline, like Johnny Cash; this was not someone who was going to disappear quietly, like David Bowie, who left us to wrestle with his final artistic statements posthumously. Fans would often tear up at newly poignant lyrics written decades ago: "No dress rehearsal / This is our life" in Ahead by a Century and "I've got to go / It's been a pleasure doing business with you" in Scared. 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. This was all a red (and white) herring: There are likely as many American references as Canadian ones in Tragically Hip songs, and Downie never threw darts at a map of Canada for song ideas, nor did he seek to set Heritage Minutes to music. As could anyone who watched him command 40,000 people at any given outdoor appearance during the 1990s, singing songs that were summer soundtracks for an entire generation. Bellegarde also bestowed on Downie an honorary aboriginal name, Wicapi Omani, which is Lakota for "man who walks among the stars". [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". He told Globe and Mail writer Ian Brown he planned to build a cabin near Chanie Wenjacks relatives in northwestern Ontario, where he could spend his final days. But the bands greatest accomplishment may be transcending their status as a key Canadian cultural touchstone to an integral part of the countrys identity. It was a rare piece of celebrity news about Downie, who had steadfastly shielded his four children and Laura Usher, his wife of 23 years, from the public eye; the lone exception was in 2012, when Downie talked openly about Ushers bout with breast cancer. In a trailer for Introduce Yerself, he noted that every song was about a single person. Very quick question to anyone that might be able to answer it.. Trending Though he clearly relished his role on stage, Downies approach to celebrity was always tenuous. Meanwhile, the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund was started to "start a new relationship with Indigenous Peoples.". Gord Downie: In my mind, there's always a TV flickering away in the corner of every song. [37], The tour was profiled in the 2017 documentary film Long Time Running, directed by Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier. If anything, the Hip's lack of success in the U.S. has only made Canadians more protective of them. Upon hearing the news, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released a tribute statement on his official website. Copyright 2023 St. Joseph Communications. The Tragically Hip's Gord Downie talks about the need to practice writing, in this interview from October 1989. In addition to the Tragically Hip's performance, Downie sang a song with a local band, Northern Revolution. 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. In 1995, a particularly successful year for the Hip, the band opened for both Page and Plant and the Rolling Stones, and performed on Saturday Night Live. He loved every hidden corner, every story, every aspect of this country that he celebrated his whole life. Canadian Icon Gordon "Gord" Edgar Downie February 6th, 1964 - October 17th, 2017 We lost a true Canadian icon, talented poet and musician. 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. Visitors walk the deserted streets of a town that once had a population between 7,000 and 8,000 people. 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. 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. Related to catch the first shows of the tour, just in case he didnt make it home. [61] The CBC news broadcast, The National, spent 40 of its sixty-minute broadcast discussing Gord and The Hip. [19], Downie was heavily involved in environmental movements, especially issues concerning water rights. He published his first poetry and prose collection alongside the album and under the same title. As a musician, he lived "the life" for over 30 years, lucky to do most of it with his high school buddies. His subject matter was always broader than he was given credit for, but its easier for armchair academics to latch onto songs about hockey and a late-breaking story on the CBC; those topics werelow-hanging fruit in the dense forest of Downies imagination. Comments on this story are moderated according to our Submission Guidelines. Downie was also featured in the sitcom Corner Gas in the episode "Rock On!" CBC Television broadcast his solo Roy Thomson Hall concert of Secret Path on October 22. [60], Downie was widely mourned in Canada. [10] He met his future Tragically Hip bandmates while attending. Thank you for all the help and support over the past two years. He commented on working with the Sadies, saying, "I enjoy getting together with those guys; it's a whole other universe. [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. The claims are located in Okanogan County, in Section 3, Township 35 N., Range 31 E. The state lease encompasses the south half of the northeast quarter and the east half of the southeast quarter and the Lots 5 and . At the Juno Awards of 2018, the album won the Juno Award for Adult Alternative Album of the Year, Downie and Drew won Songwriter of the Year for "A Natural", "Introduce Yerself" and "The North",[47] and Downie won the Artist of the Year. Months of craniotomies, chemo and radiation therapy followed. [36], Downie toured with the band in summer 2016 to support Man Machine Poem, the band's 13th studio album. Its focus is on youth learning and combining Cree education with the contemporary world. The final concert was released on DVD under the title A National Celebration on December 24, 2017. Box 500 Station A Toronto, ON Canada, M5W 1E6. The entire band valued their privacy, but Downie even more so: perhaps because of the adulation directed his way, but also because of the way he was raised. The album was scheduled for release on October 27th. [52] Under the stage name Kaya Usher, she released her own debut album as a singer, All This Is, in 2021 with the participation of two of their four children, and some of the tracks feature Usher performing with a guitar that had once belonged to Downie. Your father is now buried. [25] Chanie Wenjack was a young indigenous boy who died trying to escape a residential school,[27] who became the centre of Downie's Secret Path project. It would be the last time. His family and managers said future releases are planned, including solo material and unreleased work with the Hip. 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.". Downie was reluctant at first; he told the Toronto Star he felt like a dilettante. 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. It's so important to the country that we get this right. Finding the Secret Path premieres . Now that he's gone, "letting go" is something that Gord Downie's brothers are also struggling with. Now, one year later, Gord's brothers take us through his final year full of passion and emotion, and share what it was like to be right by his side the entire way. [69] Several stations, including CHEZ-FM in Ottawa, CFRQ-FM in Halifax,[67] CJRQ-FM in Sudbury,[69] CJQQ-FM in Timmins, CKEZ-FM in New Glasgow and CIKR-FM in the Tragically Hip's hometown of Kingston[70] dropped their regular names to temporarily rebrand themselves as "Gord FM". They then honoured the 215 children who were recently found buried. Downie had an aggressive and incurable form of brain cancer called glioblastoma, which he discovered after a seizure in December 2015. As with the blanket ceremony, the emotion and pride on his face was palpable. The band was big enough in the mid-'90s to organize Another Roadside Attraction, a travelling music and arts festival that included a mix of Canadian acts (Rheostatics, Eric's Trip) and international stars (Midnight Oil, Wilco) all hand-picked by the band. 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. My name is Maurice Duplessis, as he did on the stage of Vancouvers Thunderbird Stadium on Canada Day, 1992. There were a few others there, though, most of whom knew enough to respect the privacy of the cancer-stricken man who had travelled hundreds of kilometres to disappear. "You find it oddly strangely comforting that no matter how old you get, when it comes to matters of the heart, you're always 15 inside. [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]. It was a Terry Fox story with a twist: a story where the protagonist completes his goal before the disease gets the better of him. Where some go to get lost. Thats what even newcomers discovered during the CBC broadcast of the Tragically Hips final show on Aug. 20, 2016, six months after Downie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Downie was born in Kingston and grew up in nearby Amherstview playing hockey and music. Downie formed the Tragically Hip in 1984 alongside childhood friends Bobby Baker, Paul Langlois, Gord Sinclair and Johnny Fay. Before his passing, Gord Downie took this country on a profound journey. He took it in stride: if part of his poetrys appeal was that he rarely telegraphed direct meaning, he had to accept the fact that fans were going to read whatever they wanted into what he said. When he spoke, he gave us goosebumps and made us proud to be Canadian. "Rock 'n' roll is not unlike love," he told music writer Michael Barclay in 2000. Create the spark. [11][12] 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. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time [32], In December 2017, Percy Hatfield, the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) representing WindsorTecumseh introduced the bill Poet Laureate of Ontario Act In Memory of Gord Downie to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Gord played goalie for Amherstviews hockey team, which won a provincial B-level championship. In June 2020, the Tragically Hip and manager Jake Gold announced that they were undertaking an "archaeological dig" to select music and memorabilia from the band's archives for future release. He painted landscapes with his words, elevating Canadian geography, historical figures, and myths, Trudeau said on Wednesday. As a musician, he lived "the life" for over 30 years, lucky to do most of it with his high school buddies. Just a few close friends on a starry night in front of a campfire. Several prominent Canadians, including actors Ryan Reynolds and Seth Rogen, Toronto mayor John Tory, singers k.d. Downie was married to Laura Leigh Usher,[48] herself a breast cancer survivor. Three days after the funeral, Downie had a seizure. See where those sparks land. A childrens choir sang The Stranger, the opening track from Secret Path. [7], In 1984, at age 20, Downie formed the Tragically Hip with Rodents's members Rob Baker and Gord Sinclair, another younger Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute alumnus, Johnny Fay, and saxophonist Davis Manning. It wasnt until the 1991 release of the bands second album, Road Apples, that Downie seized the lyrical reins entirely. He saw it as something that I think made sense to him as his life was coming to an end.". To testify one more time. Anyone who managed to catch him fronting the Tragically Hip in 1985, playing covers at a roadhouse in Renfrew, Ont., could tell you that. 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,. [77], In August, Downie's Twitter account was reactivated, and began posting a series of teaser photographs of handwritten song lyrics, accompanied by numbers that appeared to be a calendar countdown to the date of October 15. He also called Downie "the greatest frontman this country has ever produced.". His family announced the news in a statement published on the Canadian band's . His words and lyrics spoke to everyone, coast to coast and across the miles. Paused. St. Joseph Communications uses cookies for personalization, to customize its online advertisements, and for other purposes. His family released the following statement: Last night Gord quietly passed away with his beloved children and family. Downie kept storytelling at the center of both records. Downie passed away on the night of Tuesday, Oct. 17, with his children and family by his side, according to a statement released by the band. If the Tragically Hip frontman had to check out early as he did on Tuesday at 53 years of . in which the Tragically Hip are shown as a local band practising in the main character's garage. The band won its first Juno (Most Promising Group) on the strength of that album and solidified its hold on the Canadian music scene with the next three albums: 1991's Road Apples, 1992's Fully Completely and 1994's Day for Night, all of which went multi-platinum or diamond. A young drummer in Grade 9, Johnny Fay, watched with interest. Record sales and radio play declined, though never precipitously enough to render the band irrelevant. Not a word. I came from a rural area, he once recalled. I dream about it, but I dont want to get too far ahead of myself, he said. 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. 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. Gord Downie is the late lead singer and songwriter of rock giants The Tragically Hip. [62] Additionally, several National Hockey League teams and players, as well as the league itself, paid tribute to Downie through social media, owing to the high popularity of the Tragically Hip's music among Canadian professional hockey players. Gord said he had lived many lives, they added. You are sitting on a project that might change the cultural landscape of First Nations for decades to come . In his last year, while living with his own tragic story, Gord Downie was consumed by another. The Hips biggest U.S. moment came in 1995 when after notching their third straight Canadian Number One album withDay for Night they playedSaturday Night Live. 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. Throughout his career, Downie seemed unfiltered on stage. [citation needed], In Kingston, Mayor Bryan Paterson issued a statement, laid a wreath in Springer Market Square near City Hall, and signed a condolence banner. His later solo records, including a rollicking, punkish 2014 album recorded with the Sadies, were remarkably conventional compared to Coke Machine Glow. Gord Downie was born on February 6, 1964 in Amherstview, Ontario, Canada. 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. "Ahead by a Century" was the single most-played song on Canadian radio on the day Downie's death was announced. The man slumped a bit. [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. Michael Barclay is the co-author of Have Not Been the Same, and the author ofThe Never-Ending Present: The Story of Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip. Kevin Light/Reuters, I would get very jumbled emails when he was in treatment, or texts at odd hours of the night, says one former musical colleague. He eventually joined a band that did punk covers, and was in a group called the Filters. 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.