Geddy Lee
Overview
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, better known as Geddy Lee (born July 29, 1953), is a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush
Rush (band)
Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...
. Lee joined what would become Rush in September 1968, at the request of his childhood friend Alex Lifeson
Alex Lifeson
Aleksandar Živojinović, OC, better known by his stage name Alex Lifeson, is a second generation Serbian-Canadian musician, best known as the guitarist of the Canadian rock band Rush. In the summer of 1968, Lifeson founded the band that would become Rush with friend, drummer John Rutsey...
, replacing original bassist and frontman Jeff Jones
Jeff Jones (musician)
Jeff Jones is a Canadian bass guitar player. He first gained fame as a member of the gospel rock band Ocean. Their million-selling 1971 single "Put Your Hand in the Hand" was penned by Gene MacLellan. The gramophone record received a gold disc awarded by the Recording Industry Association of...
.
An award-winning musician, Lee's style, technique, and skill on the bass guitar have inspired many rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
musicians such as Steve Harris
Steve Harris (musician)
Stephen Percy "Steve" Harris is an English musician and songwriter, known as the bassist, occasional keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, which he founded in 1975...
of Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
, John Myung
John Myung
John Ro Myung is an American bassist, Chapman Stick player and a founding member of the progressive metal group Dream Theater. He is considered a virtuoso player who is widely recognized for his technical proficiency....
of Dream Theater
Dream Theater
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to further concentrate on the band that would...
, Les Claypool
Les Claypool
Leslie Edward "Les" Claypool is an American musician and writer, best known as the lead vocalist and bassist in the band Primus. Claypool's playing style on the electric bass mixes tapping, flamenco-like strumming, whammy bar bends and slapping.Claypool has also self produced and engineered his...
of Primus
Primus (band)
Primus is an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, currently composed of bassist/vocalist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry "Ler" LaLonde and drummer Jay Lane. Primus originally formed in 1984 with Claypool and guitarist Todd Huth, later joined by Lane, though the latter two departed...
, Juan Alderete
Juan Alderete
Juan Alderete is an American bassist known for his work with the band The Mars Volta. Prior to his work with that band, he was known for playing in Racer X, where he received credit as John Alderete.-Biography:...
of The Mars Volta
The Mars Volta
The Mars Volta is a Grammy award winning American progressive rock band from El Paso, Texas. Founded in 2001 by guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López and vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala, the band incorporates various influences including progressive rock, krautrock, jazz fusion, Latin American music, and...
, and Tim Commerford
Tim Commerford
Timothy Robert Commerford , also known by his various monikers/stage names is the bassist/backing vocalist for American alternative metal band Rage Against The Machine and the now-defunct supergroup Audioslave.-Biography:Tim Commerford was born on February...
of Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...
.
In addition to his composing, arranging, and performing duties for Rush, Lee has produced for various other bands, including Rocket Science
Rocket Science (band)
Rocket Science is an Australian alternative rock band that first came to public attention on national youth radio network Triple J around 2000....
.
Quotations
Working at Perfekt, Got me down on my knees. Success to failure, Just a matter of degrees. Working at Perfekt, Got me down on my knees...
"Working at Perfekt"
For me, how I feel about what I wrote down turns into a song.
I love to write. It's my first love.
Music is all about wanting to be better at it.
Once I have lyrics, being able to shape them around a song is nothing new for me, I've been doing that for 25 years. The soul searching part of it, the spontaneous part of it, that was, and remains, a really terrific process.