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.. [79] The album is co-written with Josh Finlayson, a frequent collaborator, and is accompanied with an acoustic version of all the produced tracks. He died on October 17, 2017 in Toronto, Ontario. 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. 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. 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.. Sit down. 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. If anything, the Hip's lack of success in the U.S. has only made Canadians more protective of them. Downie had cameo appearances in Men with Brooms, in which the Tragically Hip play a curling team. [6] After graduating high school, Downie attended Queen's University where he majored in film studies, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts and Science in 1986. 'Just seeing all those unguarded, real moments with Gord, that always just, that always gets me.'. Gord played goalie for Amherstviews hockey team, which won a provincial B-level championship. [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 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. When he first said they were going on tour, I said, Are you okay? [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. 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.". [25][26] The fund is a part of Downie's legacy and commitment to Canada's First Peoples. "[59] The House of Commons observed a moment of silence. CBC Television broadcast his solo Roy Thomson Hall concert of Secret Path on October 22. Do the work. I know an 85-year-old with boy trouble. [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. And it seems like you get up there every single time and give it!. 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. The song "Goodnight Attawapiskat" from the album Now for Plan A was a result of this trip.[24]. Last night Gord quietly passed away with his beloved children and family close by. 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. Downies political awareness had been tweaked in 1993, when the Hip invited Midnight Oil on a summer Canadian tour; that bands singer, Peter Garrett, was an outspoken activist who would later serve as Australias environment minister. [49] They had four children. when she met a 23-year-old Downie, who was just getting started with the Hip, playing mostly university gigs.. Kingston Transit buses displayed "GORD, WE'LL MISS YOU" on their electronic destination signs, alternately with the regular route number and name display. Bellegarde also bestowed on Downie an honorary aboriginal name, Wicapi Omani, which is Lakota for "man who walks among the stars". Meanwhile, the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund was started to "start a new relationship with Indigenous Peoples.". Even when he stepped outside the Tragically Hip, Gord Downie loved to make rock records, first and foremost. 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. Garrett and his bandmates became invested in the fight against clearcutting in B.C.s Clayoquot Sound, and convinced the Hip to join them. [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. It was brave . 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. He listened to everything he could in his older sister's 45 collection, and used his allowance to buy records. Are you sure? Then I understood his reasoning, not the least of which was doing it for the guys, which was really lovely, and I thought, Of course. This, it seemed, meant much more to him than the Hips final show or the Order of Canada or the millions of records he sold. 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. Youre family. And [doing it for] his own family as well, to put something in the coffers for his kids.. "[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. He was the poet who once asked, When are you thinking of disappearing? 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. A Kingston hospital diagnosed the 52-year-old singer with primary glioblastoma, an aggressive and terminal brain cancer. Box 500 Station A Toronto, ON Canada, M5W 1E6. Mike says it was partly out of a sense of guilt, partly out of shame, but mainly because, like him, there were so many people in Canada that didn't know the dark history of residential schools. 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. "Then for him to say, 'Look at this, this is our country too. At home, he worked just as tirelessly at being a good father, son, brother, husband and friend. Gord was the fourth of five children . [4][5] In Kingston, Downie attended the downtown high school Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute, where other members of the Tragically Hip also attended. Gord, I always wanted to ask you: how do you get the energy to make it so real every day? "In many ways, Mike is in the trenches, and I think that's really helped him cope with the pain. [73], In the wake of Downie's death, CTV rescheduled the planned broadcast premiere of Long Time Running, a documentary film by Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier about the Man Machine Poem Tour of 2016, from November 12 to October 20. 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. There was no left turn in Downies career greater than his first solo album, 2001s Coke Machine Glow, compiled of songs his Hip bandmates had rejected and works culled from an accompanying book of poetry by the same namewhich set sales records in a corner of the publishing industry where 10,000 copies might as well be 100,000. The press and the music industry were largely baffled; among his peers, and especially among non-Hip fans, it remains a beloved and influential record. In December, the Assembly of First Nations honoured his work on reconciliation by endowing him with a Lakota spirit name: Wicapi Omani, or man who walks among the stars. In June, he and the band were named to the Order of Canada; Downie received his early, alongside activist Sylvia Maracle. 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. "Patrick and I are comfortable with the word legacy. [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]. By 2016, when he released his Secret Path project to address the legacy of residential schools, he decided that his celebrity was now his best asset: he knew he had the countrys attention after the Hips farewell tour, and the reluctant nationalist used it to focus specifically on an issue he felt was a glaring stain that could not be washed out of Canadas history. I think that everyman quality matters.. Downie was married to Laura Leigh Usher,[48] herself a breast cancer survivor. 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. There can be a certain darkness in the lyrics, in some ways that reminded me of reading and listening to Leonard Cohen or Robertson Davies. A young drummer in Grade 9, Johnny Fay, watched with interest. lang and Neil Young, rapper Drake, and the rock group Rush, remembered Downie on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Written entirely in the first person, Downie tried to feel what Chanie Wenjack was feeling on his journey from moment he was taken away from his family, to his lonely death. 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. He loved every hidden corner, every story, every aspect of this country that he celebrated his whole life. 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. [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. Tom Sizemore, Heat and Saving Private Ryan Actor, Dead at 61 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. 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. Downies on-stage improvisations were a principal part of the bands appeal from day one, though he was not yet a lyricist. "Ahead by a Century" was the single most-played song on Canadian radio on the day Downie's death was announced. Throughout the Nineties and into the Aughts, the Tragically Hip and Downie developed and expanded their sound. On the evening of October 17th, 2017, Downie passed away at the age of 53. 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. Most artists will hear crowds singing the first verse and choruses of their most popular songs; Downie routinely had audiences singing every single line in his discography back to him, no matter how arcane or untethered the lyric was to rhyme or meter, songs full of what songwriter John K. Samson calls beautifully meaningful non-sequiturs., The Tragically Hip, photographed in New York in February 1992. 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. In 2005, the band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Downie also appears in the Trailer Park Boys movie The Big Dirty, in which he and Alex Lifeson play a pair of police officers. To play live, he formed a band featuring members of the Odds, the Rheostatics, Erics Trip, Dinner is Ruined, and the Skydiggers. [30] In December 2017, Downie was again named Canadian Newsmaker of the Year for the second year in a row, in recognition of the public reaction to his death. Near the end of the CBC special, Chanie Wenjack's sister, Pearl, talks to the camera as she looks out over the woods. No one., Downie was diagnosed with brain cancer in December 2015, but didnt reveal his disease publicly until May 2016. A month later, Downie launched his Secret Path project. [11][12]