Gordon Edgar Downie was born in Kingston on Feb. 6, 1964, and spent his formative years in nearby Amherstview. Downie "was a great communicator," Gold said. In 2018, two recordings by Downie, "The East Wind" and "At the Quinte Hotel", were released on the compilation album The Al Purdy Songbook. Earlier this fall, Downie announced he had been working on another solo album, Introduce Yerself. You are sitting on a project that might change the cultural landscape of First Nations for decades to come . Published Oct 20, 2017 Following Gord Downie 's passing on Tuesday (October 17), Canadians are still grieving the loss of their beloved Tragically Hip frontman. David Lindley, Multi-Instrumentalist Who Shaped the Sound of Soft Rock, Dead at 78 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. [citation needed], Downie died of glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer, on October 17, 2017, at the age of 53 in Toronto. Lets celebrate our next 150 years.. Its kinda what I do. He was the man who once wrote a song for his late grandmothera song he sang several nights on stage in the summer of 2016that said, You were far more unifying than you know.. And for him that missing piece became very obvious. Gords command of language was profound. In a rare interview with the CBC upon Secret Pathsrelease, Downie spoke about how he hoped Secret Path would bring more attention to the challenges indigenous communities face and potentially help shape Canadas future. [11][12] 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. With seven solo albums to his name, Downie's own music refutes definition, renowned for its adventurous poetry . "[58] Canadian MP Tony Clement called upon the government to consider holding a state funeral for Downie, stating "I think he matters that much to Canadians. "Who are you comparing us to?" It had more in common with Neil Youngs 1975 ramshackle fan favourite album Tonights the Night than, say, anything that would have a life on classic-rock-radio playlists. 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. If the Tragically Hip frontman had to check out early as he did on Tuesday at 53 years of . The statement was released via the band's official Twitter. To the best of my internet sleuthing, I was unable to find anything online directing me to the most appropriate place to do . I dream about it, but I dont want to get too far ahead of myself, he said. Our music is entirely different. That's really compelling to me." to catch the first shows of the tour, just in case he didnt make it home. 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. [79], In October 2022, the song "Lustre Parfait" was released to streaming services as a preview of an album collecting various previously unreleased songs that Downie had recorded with Bob Rock. Gord Downie, Soundtrack: Jumper. [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. Video clips dont do justice to the energy in the room generated by a performer who communicated more with a flick of the finger than anyone elses high kicks. Thank you for all the help and support over the past two years. He died on October 17, 2017 in Toronto, Ontario. Downie died of glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer, on October 17, 2017, at the age of 53 in Toronto. Clockwise from left: Gord Downie, guitarist Gord Sinclair, guitarist Rob Baker, bassist Paul Langlois and drummer Johnny Fay. Upon hearing the news, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released a tribute statement on his official website. "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," the statement said. As the Tragically Hip's lead singer and lyricist, Downie was the face and voice of a band whose discography sold more than eight million copies. Musician manager Jake Gold, who along with Allan Gregg gave the Hip members their first shot, told the authors of the book Have Not Been The Same: The CanRock Renaissance 1985-95, about the Toronto show that won them and an ambivalent crowd over. By submitting a comment, you accept that CBC has the right to reproduce and publish that comment in whole or in part, in any manner CBC chooses. Near the end of the CBC special, Chanie Wenjack's sister, Pearl, talks to the camera as she looks out over the woods. His family announced the news in a statement published on the Canadian band's . Canadian Icon Gordon "Gord" Edgar Downie February 6th, 1964 - October 17th, 2017 We lost a true Canadian icon, talented poet and musician. No one. Poetry and pop music are not strangers, of course: just ask the committee who granted Bob Dylan the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature. Then sit back and see what happens, because its not like you can control it. 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. Gord Downie's legacy. SHAPIRO: In. I see stuff and I ," Patrick says, taking a moment to collect himself before continuing his thought. During his final months, Downie chose to say goodbye in his own unique wayand he let fans bid the beloved band farewell, too. 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. On the evening of October 17th, 2017, Downie passed away at the age of 53. She's trying to come to terms with the fact that, after decades of neglect, her brother's story is getting a national audience. Tragically Hip's Gord Downie dead at 53 | CBC News Loaded. 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. Sit down. Downie was also featured in the sitcom Corner Gas in the episode "Rock On!" 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. A young drummer in Grade 9, Johnny Fay, watched with interest. "That there wasn't a whole country, you know, we hadn't figured out what that missing piece was. No one worked harder on every part of their life than Gord. 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. Downie also made a cameo appearance in the 2008 indie drama Nothing Really Matters, directed by Jean-Marc Pich. ", 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. Thank you for all the help and support over the past two years. In addition to the Tragically Hip's performance, Downie sang a song with a local band, Northern Revolution. In his last year, while living with his own tragic story of terminal cancer, singer Gord Downie was consumed by another. Anyone who managed to catch him fronting the Tragically Hip in 1985, playing covers at a roadhouse in Renfrew, Ont., could tell you that. In a genre prone to clich, outright nonsense and occasional misogyny, Gord Downie wrote lyrics that dipped in the same well as Al Purdy, Raymond Carver, Northrop Frye, Timothy Findley, Hugh MacLennan and others; he would even quote those writers directly in his lyrics. 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. Gord Downie is the late lead singer and songwriter of rock giants The Tragically Hip. When you have five children, its hard to remember all the details, said Edgar. Last night Gord quietly passed away with his beloved children and family close by. Everyone was prepared for the funeral at any moment. The Tragically Hip was formed in 1984 and went on to become a decidedly Canadian success story. We would like to thank all the kind folks at KGH and Sunnybrook, Gord's bandmates, management team, friends and fans. A childrens choir sang The Stranger, the opening track from Secret Path. He commented on working with the Sadies, saying, "I enjoy getting together with those guys; it's a whole other universe. Gord was the fourth of five children . [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. Yeah, no more ads! Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip (Photo by Aven Hoffarth) One of the best things about Gord Downie was his thoughtfulness. When are you falling off the map? He was the singer who once sang, Do I make you scared? Gord Downie was given sufficient time to pen his own obituary, and that is exactly how it should be. 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. "For me, it's not as easy. Roy Tee/Hollandse Hoogte/Redux Gord Downie, the lead singer for the beloved Canadian alt-rock. It was brave . It really was his biggest wish.". The 15-show Man Machine Poem tour, especially its final concert, became a cultural event, as Downie's dire prognosis prompted an outpouring of support from people across the country who had the rare opportunity to celebrate a much-loved Canadian before he was gone. He saved a special energy for Kingston, playing a near three-hour set that was at once jubilant, raucous and heart-wrenching. Nonetheless, someone piped up. As a musician, he lived "the life" for over 30 years, lucky to do most of it with his high school buddies. On October 13, 2016, Downie and his brother Mike, along with the Wenjack family, announced the founding of the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund to support reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. 'Just seeing all those unguarded, real moments with Gord, that always just, that always gets me.'. Imagine if they were part of us and we them, how incredibly cool it would make us? However, the band never quite took. Gord Downie, the lead singer for the beloved Canadian alt-rock bandthe Tragically Hip, died Tuesday at the age of 53. [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". That's a strange and comforting thing to me. He published his first poetry and prose collection alongside the album and under the same title. As soon as Mike told his brother about Chanie's story, he says Gord was transfixed and made it his purpose to bring it to Canadians. [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. Downieattended Kingston Collegiate Vocational Institute, a school that has also graduated the likes of John A. Macdonald, Robertson Davies, and Don Cherry. His family and managers said future releases are planned, including solo material and unreleased work with the Hip. 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 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 . "The Barenaked Ladies? "Then for him to say, 'Look at this, this is our country too. 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. [28], Downie took to Parliament Hill on July2, 2017, to speak out for Canada's young Indigenous people, likening it to the same kind of pain young people suffered in the now defunct residential schools. He clearly was so taken with it and couldn't let it go.". As we move towards resolution and understanding and greater serenity in all aspects of our life, love's pretty elemental and that's nice to know. "His big heart served him well," Patrick Downie said of his brother Gord. Lemire created a graphic novel inspired by Downie's songs, and its images were used to create the film. He listened to everything he could in his older sister's 45 collection, and used his allowance to buy records. And I think at that time our feeling was, if we knew so little about something like this, like wow, there must be millions of Canadians who have no idea.". The people Ive met, theyre so beautiful.. Those were the private reasons. Gord Downie, singer of The Tragically Hip, died of complications from brain cancer Tuesday night at the age of 53. His death was announced in a statement from his family . His godfather was Harry Sinden, who was then a real-estate developer with Edgar, and who would go on to become the Stanley Cup-winning coach of the Boston Bruins and lead Team Canada to victory in the 1972 SummitSeries against the Soviet Union. The final concert was released on DVD under the title A National Celebration on December 24, 2017. Theyre five Canadian guys who go up on stage and they look like their audience. [38], In September 2016, Downie announced he would release a new solo album, Secret Path in October. [7], On December22, 2016, Downie was selected as The Canadian Press's Canadian Newsmaker of the Year and was the first entertainer selected for the title. Meanwhile,Secret Pathcomprised not just a record, but a graphic novel and animated film as well, all of which werebased on the tragic, but largely unknown, story of Chanie Wenjack, an indigenous 12-year-old boy who froze to death trying to escape the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School. See where those sparks land. A man that was so proud of his children and his family. He eventually joined a band that did punk covers, and was in a group called the Filters. [71], CBC Radio preempted some of its regular programming in favour of a Downie tribute special hosted by Rich Terfry;[72] although news of Downie's death broke just 20 minutes before airtime, CBC Radio One's entertainment magazine show Q dropped its planned lineup in favour of a live Downie tribute special. Now that he's gone, "letting go" is something that Gord Downie's brothers are also struggling with. [13], In addition to his solo works, Downie collaborated with several fellow Canadian and international artists. 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. "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. Its telling, though, that the album on which he makes the most Canadian referencesthe album on which one song starts with an actual loon callis also their most commercially successful: 1992s Fully Completely. [9], Downie began pursuing a solo career with the release of Coke Machine Glow in 2001. TV is the main source of information. He called concert touring "grunt work," and talked about building the fan base one person at a time. Comments are welcome while open. Their self-titled debut EP arrived in 1987 while their first LP, Up to Here, followed in 1989. 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. No one worked harder on every part of their life than Gord. Copyright 2023 St. Joseph Communications. The concert was broadcast live and viewing parties were held across Canada. READ MORE: Gord Downie calls out to Justin Trudeau during Tragically Hip's final show of tour. CBC Television broadcast his solo Roy Thomson Hall concert of Secret Path on October 22. We want to hear it. Create the spark. Garrett and his bandmates became invested in the fight against clearcutting in B.C.s Clayoquot Sound, and convinced the Hip to join them. Everyone whose family has ever been cursed with cancer projected stories onto the tale of a man who chose to stare down a terminal diagnosis and take the show on the road. The group said they were "humbled" with the award. "Gord and I, we knew so little about residential schools," Mike says. He released his second solo album, Battle of the Nudes, in 2003 before returning to the studio with the Tragically Hip. 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. 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. When search suggestions are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. [79] The album is co-written with Josh Finlayson, a frequent collaborator, and is accompanied with an acoustic version of all the produced tracks. Downie was reluctant at first; he told the Toronto Star he felt like a dilettante. Closed Captioning and Described Video is available for many CBC shows offered on CBC Gem. That song also features a line that sums up the way Gord Downie and his teenage friends built their career from the outset of its ascendancy: Sometimes the faster it gets, the less you need to know / but you gotta remember, the smarter it gets, the further its going to go.. His later solo records, including a rollicking, punkish 2014 album recorded with the Sadies, were remarkably conventional compared to Coke Machine Glow. 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. The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time Visitors walk the deserted streets of a town that once had a population between 7,000 and 8,000 people. It's a story that gripped Downie, even as he struggled with the brain tumour that was killing him. " Rosa Hwang (@journorosa) October 18, 2017. [80] The album, to be titled Lustre Parfait, is slated for release in May 2023.[81]. Usher was a 20-year-old student at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ont. A guerrilla act of love to show the rest of the country what strength and artistry, grace and humour the Cree possess." 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. [61] The CBC news broadcast, The National, spent 40 of its sixty-minute broadcast discussing Gord and The Hip. "I think my body's giving subtext and with my voice I'll give you the confines of my heart, which is illegible," he told CBC in 1999. That's who influenced me as a poet.". The song "Goodnight Attawapiskat" from the album Now for Plan A was a result of this trip.[24]. [10] Canadian rock legend Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip died at the age of 53 from brain cancer. Gordon Edgar Downie CM (February 6, 1964 October 17, 2017) was a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, musician, writer and activist. And it seems like you get up there every single time and give it!. He also performed a few live shows to support the album, with supporting musicians Kevin Drew, Charles Spearin, Dave Hamelin, Kevin Hearn and Josh Finlayson. Just a few close friends on a starry night in front of a campfire. Box 500 Station A Toronto, ON Canada, M5W 1E6.