I guess he had been "quietly" battling brain cancer for the last 3 years.
He was a like a magician on those drums. One of a kind.
That would explain why they abruptly stopped touring.
Peart and Carl Palmer are the two best rock drummers ever. Nobody else is even in the conversation.
Peart was also a world class storyteller too! What great lyrics! It made the music better!
I've watched a couple of documentaries about the band and loved them both.
There is a link further down, you can skip right to that if you don't want to listen to me babbling.
I was exposed to Rush early in life and at the very start of their career. WMMS in Cleveland was one of the most powerful and influential radio stations in the country. They actually won Rolling Stone's "Station of the Year" many years in a row. They started playing Rush and nobody had heard of them. They became a favorite of mine immediately. In school everyone was talking about the song, the buzz around the band was gigantic.
On the album in the liner notes they inserted "thanks to WMMS for getting the ball rolling" or something like that.
This is the woman who brought us Rush. This was taken at the station. The dude on the left with the bad hair was Matt the Cat an on air personality that had a massive following.
This is her with them at the Hollywood Walk of Fame. They are still friends to this day.
Here is the back story nobody knew. If you are even a casual Rush fan you will love this.
https://buzzardbook.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/rush-to-judgement/
A poster promoting a 1975 concert at the legendary Agora.
Not many people know that Peart wasn't the original drummer.
RIP to you Neil.
www.cnn.com
