RUSH Chronogical History
OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY
JULY 29, 1953 - Geddy (Gary) Lee is born
- He is of Polish-Jew heritage. He got the name Geddy
because his mother calling his name (Gary) with an
outrageous Yiddish accent making it sound like 'Geddy'.
The name stuck...
CHRISTMAS 1966 - Alex Lifeson was given a $13 Kent Classical guitar.
- Alex Lifeson was born in Fernie British Columbia (North
of Glacier National Park)
- He is of Yugoslavian heritage.
SPRING.. 1968 - 'RUSH' was born.
- Alex Lifeson (Guitarist), John Rutsey (On the Drums),
and Jeff Jones (Bass guitar, Vox) formed 'Rush'.
- The band's name came from an idea by John's older brother
Bill that spring.
SEPTEMBER 1968 - Geddy Lee joined 'Rush' as Bassist.
- Jeff Jones is asked to leave the band.
CHRISTMAS DAY - Lindy Young joins Rush as a keyboardist and backup on
1968 guitar. Band now consists of: Alex Lifeson Geddy Lee
John Rutsey Lindy Young
MAY 1969 - Geddy Lee is kicked out of the band by John Rutsey and
company.
- They change their name from 'Rush' to 'Hadrian'.
- Ray Danniels becomes the band's first manager.
- Joe Perna joins the band to replace Geddy. The band now
consists of: Alex Lifeson Lindy Young
John Rutsey Joe Perna
JUNE 1969 - Geddy Lee joined a rythm & blues band called Ogilvie whom
later changed it's name to Judd.
- Ray Danniels also managed Geddy Lee's band, 'Judd'.
JULY 1969 - Lindy Young quits 'Hadrian', and Joe persues other
interests.
- 'Hadrian' is disbanded leaving Alex and John on their own.
SEPTEMBER 1969 - Geddy Lee's band 'Judd' breaks up.
- Alex calls Geddy and 'Rush' is re-born.
- There is now: John Rutsey (Drums) - Headlines the band
Alex Lifeson (Guitarist)
Geddy Lee (Bass Guitar, Vox)
1970 - 'Rush' begins avidly playing in bars around Toronto.
- Ray Danniels becomes a full time manager with the band.
FEBRUARY 1971 - Mitch Bossi joined the band as a backup guitarist, but
his stay was short and was kicked out after a few months.
1971 - 1972 - 'Rush' begins playing in other cities at highschools
outside of Toronto. They performed in Sudbury,
North Bay, Cochrane, Kirkland Lake, London, Deep River,
and Windsor Ontario.
LATE 1972 - The band made their first amateur recording in a primative
studio at Rochdale College in Toronto.
- Bill Bryant produced a two track recording with Rush in
a garage like facility called Sound Horn.
EARLY 1973 - Vic Wilson became a joint manager for Rush.
SUMMER 1973 - Rush's first single is recorded.
- Produced by David Stock at Easter Sound Studios in
Toronto.
- Recorded under Moon Records Lable.
- Songs Recorded: Not Fade Away
You Can't fight It (B-side)
LATE 1973 - Rush performed for the first time outside of Canada in
Lansing Michigan for a crowd of 3000 people.
JANUARY 1974 - Rush's first album is recorded.
- Produced by Terry Brown at Toronto Sound Studios.
- Album title: RUSH
- Recorded under Moon Records Lable.
- In Canada original album cover was Red.
- Released: January 1974 (3500 copies)
JUNE 1974 - Ira Blacker became a United States manager which ended
in a dispute costing Rush $250 000 a few years later.
JULY 1974 - John Rutsey quits the band just before Rush's first
concert tour in early August.
- Howard Ungerleider becomes Rush's first road manager.
JULY 29, 1974 - Neil Pert joins Rush as their new drummer on Geddy Lee's
birthday.
- Neil had been previously playing in a band called Hush;
kind of ironic since Neil was probably the loudest
drummer around.
AUGUST 1974 - Rush's first album is re-recorded and re-released.
- The album cover is changed to Pink.
- Recorded under Mercury Records lable.
AUG. 14, 1974 - The band's first 5 month tour begins in Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania.
- This is Neil's first time ever playing on stage with the
band. His debut with the band was in front of 11,642
people at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
It was a hit!!
SEPTEMBER 1974 - Toronto concert recorded and aired on the King Biscuit
Flower Hour.
DECEM. 6, 1974 - ABC Television's 'in concert series' aired a shooting of
'Best I can', in which Alex Lifeson does backup vocals.
JANUARY, 1975 - Rush and Terry Brown produced their second album.
- Album title: Fly By Night
- Recorded at Toronto Sound under Mercury Records lable.
- Released in February 1975.
- The album went 'Canadian' gold within a year.
FEBRUARY 1975 - The band began it's 'Fly By Night' tour.
JUNE 25, 1975 - The tour is ended at Massey Hall in Toronto for a sold-out
show of 2765 people.
JULY 1975 - 'Caress of Steel' is recorded at Toronto Sound.
- Produced by Terry Brown.
- Released September 1975 under Mercury Records lable.
- The band was given only 12 days of recording time to
complete the album. It did not show Rush's full potential.
- Terry Brown comments, "From an outsider's point of view it
is very difficult to get into 'Caress' quickly, but there
are some great tunes on it." Some touring with Rush at
the time said that it may not have been commercial enough
for the audience."
SEPTEMBER 1975 - Neil, Geddy, and Alex began their 3« month 'Caress of
Steel' tour.
- Nicknamed the 'Down the Tubes Tour' due to low attendance.
- Rush almost broke up and called it quits! (They were
$ 325,000 in the hole).
EARLY ~~ 1976 - Neil wrote some kick ass lyrics, saving the band and came
up with concepts for the '2112' album.
FEBRUARY 1976 - '2112' album is recorded during a one month time span at
Toronto Sound Studios.
- Produced by Terry Brown.
- Mercury Records lable.
- Released in March, 1976. Within a week of it's release
100,000 copies were sold...
- Voice that closes 'Grande Finale' was actually recorded
about a year prior to the release of the album while Alex
and Geddy were screwing around on an old recorder.
MARCH 18, 1976 - Rush kicked off their 2112 tour in L.A.
JUNE 11, 1976 - A LIVE album was recorded over a three date time span at
Massey Hall in Toronto, which also served as a kick-off
to a brief Canadian tour. All three shows were sold out.
- Album title: All The World's a Stage.
- Recorded by the Fedco Mobile Unit
- Mixed at Toronto Sound Studios
- "We remixed the entire album three times", says Alex.
"We thought it woould take a week, maybe five days...
and we were in there for a month. Geddy, Neil and I were
going nuts by the end of it. We would go outside and play
ping-pong, go back in for a few minutes and walk out. We
got to the point where we did not know what we were hearing
any more. We tried to get a balance between a very live
album and the way we would want to hear it."
- The record sounds raw, full of raging primal fury. This
is most notable on the live side of '2112', in which
Neil's anger can be heard with intensity. If you listen
to the album closely you can hear the snares break on
Neil's drum during 'The Temples of Syrinx'.
- The album was finally released September 29, 1976.
SUMMER 1976 - Geddy Lee runs off and marries his long time girlfriend
Nancy Young. They held a traditional Jewish wedding, and
had a two-week honeymoon in Hawaii.
- Nancy Young is sister to Lindy Young, whom was a member of
Rush for a short time in 1969.
DECEMBER 1976 - Marvel Comics dedicated The Defenders (Volume 1, Number 45)
'to Alex, Geddy and Neil of Rush'. The comic is based on
Neil's lyrics to '2112'.
DEC. 22, 1976 - The band was presented their second and third Canadian
Gold albums for 'Caress of Steel' and 'Rush'. A
Canadian Gold album is awarded for sales of 50,000
or more discs.
LATE 1976 - Rush continued to tour North America for the remainder
of 1976 and 2112...
- Ray Danniels and Vic Wilson continued on as the band's
managers.
JAN. 1, 1977 - The trio played two sold out shows at the Maple Leaf
Gardens Concert Bowl.
JANUARY 1977 - In order to get more air-time on radio shows, a record
was compiled of post-Rutsey Rush tunes. It included an
edited version of '2112', 'Something for Nothing',
'Making Memories', and 'Bacchus Plateau'.
- The record was given the name: 'Everything Your Listeners
Wanted To Hear By Rush... But You Were Afraid To Play.'
- This recording was aimed at radio stations all over
North America.
MAY 20, 1977 - Rush played their final show after 14 months of on and off
touring at Chicago's Aragon Ballroom. This ended their
North American touring... at least for a while.
JUNE 1, 1977 - At the beginning of summer, Rush decided to kick off a
short European tour starting in Sheffield, Great Britain.
MID JUNE,1977 - 'Farewell to Kings' was recorded at Rockfield Studios,
South Wales, England over a 3 week time span.
- Produced by Terry Brown.
- Mercury Records lable.
- Re-mixed at Advision Studios, London England.
- Released September, 1977 in Britain, Canada, and the U.S.
- During the first two tracks of the album, birds can be
heard chirping at Rockfield through the open studio windows.
- Album Cover - Foreground: A demolished warehouse in
Buffalo, New York.
Background: Part of the Toronto skyline.
- The Band later found out that their road manager, Howard
Ungerleider lived there!
LATE JUNE,1977 - Rush returned to Canada to work on their first video.
- Filmed at Seneca College, Toronto.
- This was intended as a mock concert including the songs,
'A Farewell To Kings', 'Xanadu', and 'Closer To The Heart'.
SEPTEMBER,1977 - The band kicked what was known as the 'Drive 'Til You Die
Tour'.
FEBRUARY, 1978 - Rush continued touring, returning to Europe, starting in
Britain.
- They later returned to North America to continue touring
there.
MAY, 1978 - Mercury Records released 'Archives', a three album set of
Rush's first three Albums.
JUNE, 1978 - The 'Drive 'Till You Die Tour' finally came to an end.
- At this point they had six gold and three platinum records
in Canada.
JUNE/JUL, 1978 - Alex, Geddy, and Neil returned to Rockfield studios in
South Wales, England to record 'Hemispheres'.
- Geddy did some vocals at Advision, but things weren't
working out for him or anyone else, so the band re-located
at Trident studios where the album was re-mixed.
- Recorded under Mercury by Terry Brown.
- Geddy commented, "More time was spent recording the
'Strngiato' than the entire 'Fly By Night' album."
- Released, Oct. 1978.
OCTOBER, 1978 - Release of Hemisphere's on video.
JAN. 21, 1979 - Rush played a sold out show at the Philadelphia Spectrum.
Blondie, the band opened for Rush was booed off of the
stage before they even had a chance to begin.
The entire croud chanted Rush! Rush! Rush!
As soon as the lead guitarist of Blondie shot the finger,
the crowd filled the stage with debris...
This may be part of the reason why Rush hasn't had
anyone open up for them lately!
Keep the tradition, Boo 'em off the stage!!!
1980 ---- Came the kick ass album 'Permanent Waves'.
**** MORE TO COME ****
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