Gord Downie

Gord Downie
Downie performing in Guelph, Ontario
Background information
Birth name	Gordon Edgar Downie
Born	(1964-02-06) 6 February 1964 Amherstview, Ontario, Canada
Origin	Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Rock, alternative rock
Occupation(s)	Musician, actor
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, harmonica, drums
Years active	1983–present
Associated acts	The Tragically Hip, The Country of Miracles, The Sadies
Website	www.thehip.com

Gordon Edgar "Gord" Downie (born 6 February 1964) is a Canadian rock musician, writer, and occasional actor. He is the lead singer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip. He has released five solo albums: Coke Machine Glow (2001), Battle of the Nudes (2003), The Grand Bounce (2010), And the Conquering Sun (2014) and Secret Path (2016). On the first three of of these, he was backed by the Country of Miracles;^[1] The Grand Bounce is credited to "Gord Downie and the Country of Miracles".

Life and career

Early life

Gordon Downie (known widely as Gord Downie) grew up in a suburb of Kingston, Ontario, where he befriended the musicians who would become The Tragically Hip while attending the downtown Kingston high school Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute.^[2] Downie formed the Tragically Hip with Rob Baker, Johnny Fay, Davis Manning, and Gord Sinclair in 1983. Saxophone player Davis Manning left the band and guitarist Paul Langlois joined in 1986.^[3] Originally, the band started off playing cover songs in bars and quickly became famous once MCA Records president, Bruce Dickinson, saw them performing at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto and offered them a record deal.^[4] This much-loved Canadian band has won over many fans through the incorporation of Downie’s stories and myths about life in Canada in his songs, and his wild antics and rantings on stage.^[5] In 2001, Downie diverted from the band and started his solo career with the release of his album Coke Machine Glow. Along with this release he published his first poetry and prose book named after his solo album.^[6] He went on to create a second solo album, Battle of the Nudes, in 2003. After making three more albums with the Tragically Hip, he made The Grand Bounce in 2010, which is credited to Gord Downie and the Country of Miracles.^[7] The Country of Miracles have backed Downie for each of his solo albums, but this is the first album to be credited this way. This is also the first album to have Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla involved in the production.^[1]

Downie performing in 2013

Collaborations

Downie has collaborated with fellow Canadian and international artists. His most famous Canadian collaborations are with Richard Terfry (better known as Buck 65), Dallas Green of City and Colour and Alexisonfire, the Sadies and Fucked Up. These collaborations do not include the musicians who have helped Downie to create his solo albums.

Terfry collaborated with Downie on the song Whispers of the Waves off the album 20 Odd Years. Terfry composed the track and with the help of Charles Austen, his co-writer, decided Downie's vocals would be the best fit for their song.^[8]

In his solo project City and Colour, Green had Downie sing on the track Sleeping Sickness off City and Colour's hit album Bring Me Your Love. The album debuted at number 11 of the Top Heatseekers chart in March 2008.

In 2014, Downie released an album with the Sadies called And the Conquering Sun. He commented on working with the Sadies, saying, "I enjoy getting together with those guys; it's a whole other universe. They're writing all the music and I'm writing all the lyrics and we're coming up with some neat stuff. You do it for the company but I'm genuinely shocked by the themes and things you touch based on the music you're singing to. That's really compelling to me." The album consists of ten songs.^[9]

In other media

Downie has cameo appearances in Men with Brooms, in which the Tragically Hip play a curling team.^[10] Downie also made a cameo appearance in the 2008 indie drama Nothing Really Matters, directed by Jean-Marc Piché.^[11] Downie also appears in the Trailer Park Boys movie The Big Dirty, in which he and Alex Lifeson play a pair of police officers.^[12] More recently, he and other members of the band can be seen 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.^[11] Downie is also featured in the sitcom Corner Gas in the episode "Rock On!" in which the Tragically Hip are shown as a local band practising in the main character's garage.^[13] Colin James is also featured in the same episode. Downie also appeared in Michael McGowan's 2008 film, One Week.^[14]

Environmental work

Downie is heavily involved in environmental movements, especially issues concerning water rights. He is board member of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper.^[15] With Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, Downie helped work on a cause to prevent a cement company from burning tires for fuel.^[16] 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.^[17]

The Great Moon Gathering

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. Its focus is on youth learning and combining Cree education with the contemporary world.^[18] The venue was small and not typical of the band. Author Joseph Boyden, who invited them, said their motivation was to “initiate a guerrilla act of love for a people who are so thoroughly underrepresented but now, somehow, overexposed for only their shortcomings. A guerrilla act of love to show the rest of the country what strength and artistry, grace and humour the Cree possess.” In addition to the Tragically Hip's performance, Downie sang a song with a local band, Northern Revolution. The song "Goodnight Attawapiskat" from the album Now for Plan A was a result of this trip.

Cancer diagnosis

The Tragically Hip announced on their website on 24 May 2016 that Downie had been diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour.^[19] Doctors at Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre confirmed the same day that it is a glioblastoma, which has responded favourably to radiation and chemotherapy treatment but is not curable.^[20]

Downie toured with the band in summer 2016 to support Man Machine Poem, the band's 14th studio album.^[19] The tour's final concert was held at the Rogers K-Rock Centre in Kingston, Ontario on August 20, 2016 and was broadcast and streamed live by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on television, radio and internet. It was viewed by an estimated 11.7 million people.^[21]

In September 2016, Downie announced that he will be releasing a new solo album, Secret Path in October.^[22] The album will be accompanied by a graphic novel on which he collaborated with Jeff Lemire.^[22]

Philanthropy

On October 13, 2016, Downie and his brother Mike, along with the Wenjack family announced ^[23] the founding of the The Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund to support reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.^[24] The Fund is a part of Downie's legacy and commitment to Canada's First Peoples.^[24] Chanie Wenjack is a young boy who died trying to escape a residential school,^[25] who is at the centre of Downie's Secret Path project. The Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund operates out of the Toronto Foundation.^[26]

Personal life

Downie is married to Laura Leigh Usher,^[27] herself a cancer survivor.^[28] They have four children.^[29] Downie and Usher separated sometime before Downie's cancer diagnosis.^[30]

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

• Our Power (2006): "Figment (Acoustic version)"

Singles

• "Crater" (with the Sadies) (2014)^[31]

      Featured: "Sleeping Sickness" by City and Colour (2008)

Bibliography

• Coke Machine Glow (2001)

References

External links

• Official website