Related [29], In May 2016, Downie and his bandmates received honorary degrees from Queen's University. On that summer night in Kingston, the set list dipped back to the Hips first hit single, Blow at High Dough, the one that opens with the line: They shot a movie once, in my hometown. His movie, our hometowns: Downies lyrics imbued Canadas music scene with mystery and magic and presented it, poetically, to a wide mainstream audience. Gord Downie's legacy. [31], Downie, along with his Tragically Hip bandmates, was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada on June19, 2017, for "their contribution to Canadian music and for their support of various social and environmental causes". Visitors walk the deserted streets of a town that once had a population between 7,000 and 8,000 people. His family and managers said future releases are planned, including solo material and unreleased work with the Hip. I think rock 'n' roll is the same. Downie never sought to be iconic. Clockwise from left: Gord Downie, guitarist Gord Sinclair, guitarist Rob Baker, bassist Paul Langlois and drummer Johnny Fay. To play live, he formed a band featuring members of the Odds, the Rheostatics, Erics Trip, Dinner is Ruined, and the Skydiggers. We are not the country we think we are. Downie also appears in the Trailer Park Boys movie The Big Dirty, in which he and Alex Lifeson play a pair of police officers. Do the work. 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. [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. Poetry and pop music are not strangers, of course: just ask the committee who granted Bob Dylan the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature. And it seems like you get up there every single time and give it!. Gordon Edgar Downie was born in Kingston on Feb. 6, 1964, and spent his formative years in nearby Amherstview. Before his passing, Gord Downie took this country on a profound journey. Gordon R Downie (1899-1943) - Find a Grave Memorial Born in 1899 and died in 13 Oct 1943 Winnipeg, Manitoba Gordon R Downie Skip to main content Home Memorials Cemeteries Famous Contribute Register Sign In Register Sign In Memorial updated successfully. His subject matter was always broader than he was given credit for, but its easier for armchair academics to latch onto songs about hockey and a late-breaking story on the CBC; those topics werelow-hanging fruit in the dense forest of Downies imagination. It's so important to the country that we get this right. He published his first poetry and prose collection alongside the album and under the same title. The Downie residence was the only one where the Hips gold record was nowhere to be seen; the elder Downies couldnt remember the name of his high-school punk band. "His main focus was the release of Secret Path," says Gord's brother, Patrick Downie. David Lindley, Multi-Instrumentalist Who Shaped the Sound of Soft Rock, Dead at 78 "I think he really tried to put himself in those shoes and imagine what that was like," Mike says. [6] The Tragically Hip quickly became famous once MCA Records president Bruce Dickinson saw them performing at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto and offered them a record deal. Roy Tee/Hollandse Hoogte/Redux Gord Downie, the lead singer for the beloved Canadian alt-rock. Gord said he had lived many lives, they added. Over and over and over and over again., Thank you everyone for all the respect, admiration and love you have given Gord throughout the years, his family wrote following his death. The program won the Donald Brittain Award for Best Political or Social Documentary Program[41] and Best Music in a Non-Fiction Program. Days earlier, this quiet man had held much of the entire nation rapt, millions watching as he summoned all his strength to tackle his terminal condition, to fend backhowever brieflythe inevitability of death. [64], Residents of the Ontario village of Bobcaygeon, which Downie had written about in the song of the same name, held a candlelight vigil for him the night after his death;[65] a large public gathering also took place at Springer Market Square in the band's hometown of Kingston. Those were the private reasons. He was transfixed by Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old Anishinaabe residential school student who died of hunger and exhaustion while trying to walk 600 km home to his family. Gord Downie was born on February 6, 1964 in Amherstview, Ontario, Canada. Word of mouth about the band spread throughout Kingston and eventually to Toronto. He said he told Canadian stories because they were there to be told, and said he performed music because it was the ultimate medium for expressions of love. Bob Berg/Getty. I wouldnt say its given me a stigma, but its something thats always stayed with me, not actually being from Kingston. His outsider status became part of his public identity: the poet in the bar band; the rock star slumming it with indie kids whilecozying up to intelligentsia; the artist with a commercially successful cushion who thrived on continuing to challenge himself with new collaborators and varied disciplines like dance, painting, and acting. Not surprisingly, Downie has cited all those as key influences, as well as David Byrne, Van Morrison and, yes, Jim Morrison; Downie sang a few Doors tunes . [69] Several stations, including CHEZ-FM in Ottawa, CFRQ-FM in Halifax,[67] CJRQ-FM in Sudbury,[69] CJQQ-FM in Timmins, CKEZ-FM in New Glasgow and CIKR-FM in the Tragically Hip's hometown of Kingston[70] dropped their regular names to temporarily rebrand themselves as "Gord FM". 1. Clockwise from left: Gord Downie, guitarist Gord Sinclair, guitarist Rob Baker, bassist Paul Langlois and drummer Johnny Fay. Downie "was a great communicator," Gold said. A childrens choir sang The Stranger, the opening track from Secret Path. Wenjack was to 2016 what Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi was to 2015: a tragic symbol who launched a Canadian conversation about compassion and collective reckoning. Then came Downie's diagnosis, which created a wave of nostalgia and celebration even as people prepared for his passing. Youre family. And [doing it for] his own family as well, to put something in the coffers for his kids.. [42] At the 7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019, two additional awards were won by Gord Downie's Secret Path in Concert, the CBC Television broadcast of Downie's 2016 Roy Thomson Hall performance of the album. It was passed in December 2019, establishing the Poet Laureate of Ontario. [77], In August, Downie's Twitter account was reactivated, and began posting a series of teaser photographs of handwritten song lyrics, accompanied by numbers that appeared to be a calendar countdown to the date of October 15. Gord Downie is the late lead singer and songwriter of rock giants The Tragically Hip. 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. Vandoliers Play Tennessee Concert in Dresses to Protest State's New Drag Bill [10] The concert was broadcast live and viewing parties were held across Canada. He sang about Canada, but disavowed nationalism, his songs exploring heavy topics like David Milgaard's wrongful conviction (Wheat Kings) or Canada's treatment of First Nations (Now the Struggle Has a Name). Gord Downie passed away a year ago on October 17, 2017. . Meanwhile,Secret Pathcomprised not just a record, but a graphic novel and animated film as well, all of which werebased on the tragic, but largely unknown, story of Chanie Wenjack, an indigenous 12-year-old boy who froze to death trying to escape the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School. The final concert was released on DVD under the title A National Celebration on December 24, 2017. Gord Downie's not-so-Secret Path to truth and reconciliation Everything about itthe music, the film, the band, his performancemakes you want to pay attention By Michael Barclay October 22,. Last night, Gord quietly passed away with his beloved children and family close by, his familywrote in a statement. In 1995, a particularly successful year for the Hip, the band opened for both Page and Plant and the Rolling Stones, and performed on Saturday Night Live. The Tragically Hip, photographed in New York in February 1992. A documentary film, Long Time Running, about the Tragically Hip's summer 2016 cross-Canada farewell concert tour, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2017. Yet, with the exception of certain, mostly border cities in the U.S. and pockets of support in western Europe, the Hip rarely made an impact outside Canada, continuing to play smaller venues like the House of Blues stateside while they sold out hockey arenas north of the border. Updated at 11:10 a.m. This was all a red (and white) herring: There are likely as many American references as Canadian ones in Tragically Hip songs, and Downie never threw darts at a map of Canada for song ideas, nor did he seek to set Heritage Minutes to music. He also performed a few live shows to support the album, with supporting musicians Kevin Drew, Charles Spearin, Dave Hamelin, Kevin Hearn and Josh Finlayson. I came from a rural area, he once recalled. Working with Gold and Gregg, the Hip signed a record deal with MCA that led to an eponymous 1987 EP, but the band didn't start to become a household name until 1989's Up to Here, which included the hits Blow at High Dough and New Orleans is Sinking, both of which still get heavy play on Canadian radio. The Hips biggest U.S. moment came in 1995 when after notching their third straight Canadian Number One album withDay for Night they playedSaturday Night Live. They picked up their first Juno award Most Promising Group of the Year in 1990. I think that everyman quality matters.. On Oct. 17, 2017, Gord Downie passed away from brain cancer at the age of 53 in Toronto. He usually started with a "Hello," and often ended with a variation on "Good night, music lovers," but what would happen in between was anyone's guess. "[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. 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. The last 150 years arent as much worth celebrating as we think, Downie said. As we move towards resolution and understanding and greater serenity in all aspects of our life, love's pretty elemental and that's nice to know. The emotional strength that Patrick and Mike have shown is inspiring, but they add that they're driven to keep their brother's legacy alive with projects like Finding the Secret Path because of what it means to others. He was on a fishing trip. [49] They had four children. Even the most cursory walk through his discography showed a man wrestling with notions of mortality in his work for years. Downie also appeared in Michael McGowan's 2008 film, One Week. In a genre prone to clich, outright nonsense and occasional misogyny, Gord Downie wrote lyrics that dipped in the same well as Al Purdy, Raymond Carver, Northrop Frye, Timothy Findley, Hugh MacLennan and others; he would even quote those writers directly in his lyrics. In his last year, while living with his own tragic story of terminal cancer, singer Gord Downie was consumed by another. Downies on-stage improvisations were a principal part of the bands appeal from day one, though he was not yet a lyricist. Please note that CBC does not endorse the opinions expressed in comments. The 100 Best Albums of 2022, Speaking with The New York Times around the bands final show, Broken Social Scenes Kevin Drew summed up the Tragically Hips influence: Were a country that hasnt really embraced its history just yet. [32], In December 2017, Percy Hatfield, the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) representing WindsorTecumseh introduced the bill Poet Laureate of Ontario Act In Memory of Gord Downie to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Now, nearly a year after Gord Downie's death, his brothers Patrick and Mike are premiering a new CBC documentary they've produced Finding The Secret Path. Closed Captioning and Described Video is available for many CBC shows offered on CBC Gem. At home, he worked just as tirelessly at being a good father, son, brother, husband and friend. Its telling, though, that the album on which he makes the most Canadian referencesthe album on which one song starts with an actual loon callis also their most commercially successful: 1992s Fully Completely. In the remote north, in a land where the many not born there dare not go. The 23-song double album is due out Oct. 27, 2017, and is expected to be released posthumously by the Canadian label Arts & Crafts. No matter how opaque or directly critical of Canadian history he may have been, Downie faced a sea of literal flag-waving at almost every single showespecially at shows not on Canadian soil. I think I take my nanas approach," he once admitted. The band also earned 16 Juno Awards the most ever for a band and the fourth-most ever for an artist picking up their last two in April for Group of the Year and Rock Album of the Year for Man Machine Poem. Your father is now buried. Comments are welcome while open. Making the documentary has been a welcome distraction for Mike, and a painful reminder for Patrick. when she met a 23-year-old Downie, who was just getting started with the Hip, playing mostly university gigs.. A Kingston hospital diagnosed the 52-year-old singer with primary glioblastoma, an aggressive and terminal brain cancer. In a rare interview with the CBC upon Secret Pathsrelease, Downie spoke about how he hoped Secret Path would bring more attention to the challenges indigenous communities face and potentially help shape Canadas future. [19], Downie was heavily involved in environmental movements, especially issues concerning water rights. We would like to thank all the kind folks at KGH and Sunnybrook, Gord's bandmates, management team, friends and fans. "[59] The House of Commons observed a moment of silence. They're writing all the music and I'm writing all the lyrics and we're coming up with some neat stuff. It shouldnt have surprised us. Closed Captioning and Described Video is available for many CBC shows offered on CBC Gem. He also called Downie "the greatest frontman this country has ever produced.". in which the Tragically Hip are shown as a local band practising in the main character's garage. Comments on this story are moderated according to our Submission Guidelines. Usher was a 20-year-old student at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ont. Gord said he had lived many lives. Thank you for all the help and support over the past two years. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. [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. Thank you everyone for all the respect, admiration and love you have given Gord throughout the years those tender offerings touched his heart and he takes them with him now as he walks among the stars. Lets not celebrate the last 150 years, Downie told a Toronto audience last October. That's really compelling to me." The final concert, in Kingston on Aug. 20,2016 was broadcast byCBC. "I think my body's giving subtext and with my voice I'll give you the confines of my heart, which is illegible," he told CBC in 1999. Downies lyrics were often packed with references to Canadian totems and history, though he approached both with an appreciation for lore and a cautionary eye towards reality. [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. Then he got up, silently, walked over to a pile of wood, picked up two logs, and returned to put them on the fire. or somewhat similarly minded mainstream artists like John Mellencamp. Video clips dont do justice to the energy in the room generated by a performer who communicated more with a flick of the finger than anyone elses high kicks. As could anyone who watched him command 40,000 people at any given outdoor appearance during the 1990s, singing songs that were summer soundtracks for an entire generation. Where some go to get lost. The poet whose metaphors had inspired generations of rocknroll fans had nothing more to saywith words, anyway. 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. The Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund is a registered charity. He listened to everything he could in his older sister's 45 collection, and used his allowance to buy records. The Hip, as they're often called, won 16 Juno awards (the most of any band) and received a raft of other honours, including the Order of Canada. 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. Create the spark. Avril?". The working men were going to work. 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. Downie was born in Kingston and grew up in nearby Amherstview playing hockey and music. Pseudonyms will no longer be permitted. ", After his final appearances with the Tragically Hip, Downie released Secret Path, a multimedia project that tells the tragic tale of 12-year-old Chanie Wenjack, who died of exposure and hunger in 1966 after running away from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School in Kenora, Ont. CBC broadcaster and musician Tom Power called them "Canada's local band." Last night Gord quietly passed away with his beloved children and family close by. Fans would often tear up at newly poignant lyrics written decades ago: "No dress rehearsal / This is our life" in Ahead by a Century and "I've got to go / It's been a pleasure doing business with you" in Scared. [7], In 1984, at age 20, Downie formed the Tragically Hip with Rodents's members Rob Baker and Gord Sinclair, another younger Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute alumnus, Johnny Fay, and saxophonist Davis Manning. It really was his biggest wish.". 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. Paused. To get in there in the way Gord would, just to kind of work your way through it and stay active," Patrick explains when asked how difficult it's been to see all those moments with Gord again in the documentary. Gord Downie is definitely in the tradition of great Canadian poets, Dickinson told the National Post in 2016. I don't pretend to understand it; it feels confusing and frightening and wonderful.". Also, a series of music videos for all the songs on the album were created by Canadian artists and released on YouTube. The hour-long film chronicles that last year of Gord Downie's life, and his determination to tell Chanie Wenjack's story: "It's such a simple story, that's part of its grasp," says Mike. 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 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. Memorial has been sponsored successfully. 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. Gord Downie's brother Mike describes what the Tragically Hip's front-man went through to keep pushing his projects ahead during his final struggle with a terminal brain tumour. By 2004, he'd clearly grown tired of the question. And Then There Was David Lindley, See the Beths Deliver Refreshing 'Expert in a Dying Field' Mini-Set on 'CBS Mornings', The YSL Case Is Stretching Fulton County's Justice System to Its Breaking Point, Trump Promises to Continue Presidential Campaign if Indicted, Then Delivers a Snoozy CPAC Speech, NBA 'Investigating,' Team Suspends Ja Morant After Allegedly Flashing Gun on Social Media. Everyone was prepared for the funeral at any moment. My name is Maurice Duplessis, as he did on the stage of Vancouvers Thunderbird Stadium on Canada Day, 1992. ", Mike says he hopes the film makes it clear that this idea, "meant a lot to this guy, he wasn't chasing causes around, this was really important. 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. Gordon Edgar Downie was born in Amherstview, Ontario, and raised in Kingston, Ontario, along with his brothers Mike and Patrick, and sisters Charlyn and Paula. Downie kept storytelling at the center of both records. In 2005, the band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. As original material slowly seeped its way into the set, it was the other Gord, Sinclair, who wrote most of the lyrics. A month later, Downie launched his Secret Path project. (He wasnt nominated at that years inaugural Griffin Prize for Poetry, but he did perform at the gala.) 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. The song "Goodnight Attawapiskat" from the album Now for Plan A was a result of this trip.[24]. [8] Originally, the band covered popular British rock songs from the 1960s. Downie died on October 17, 2017 at the age of 53. Gord, I always wanted to ask you: how do you get the energy to make it so real every day? Finding the Secret Path premieres . He loved every hidden corner, every story, every aspect of this country that he celebrated his whole life. Post navigation That's who influenced me as a poet.". Canadian rock legend diagnosed with brain cancer in 2015. 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. Gord knew this day was coming his response was to spend this precious time as he always had making music, making memories and expressing deep gratitude to his family and friends for a life well lived, often sealing it with a kiss on the lips. Canadians learned of Downie's illness on May 24 last year the same day the rest of the rock group,Paul Langlois, Rob Baker, Gord Sinclair and Johnny Fay,announced that the Kingston, Ont.-based band would head out on a final summer tour "for Gord, and for all of us.". Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old Anishinaabe boy, ran away from a residential school in northern Ontario 52 years ago. And I'd hate for that to go away, especially with something that's so important, was so important to him. [7], On December22, 2016, Downie was selected as The Canadian Press's Canadian Newsmaker of the Year and was the first entertainer selected for the title. There were a few others there, though, most of whom knew enough to respect the privacy of the cancer-stricken man who had travelled hundreds of kilometres to disappear. What followed once the show hit the road, though, was a public outpouring that few could have predicted: a year of Downie transforming from an aging rock star to tragic hero. And their support hasn't gone. Their self-titled debut EP arrived in 1987 while their first LP, Up to Here, followed in 1989. " Rosa Hwang (@journorosa) October 18, 2017. She's trying to come to terms with the fact that, after decades of neglect, her brother's story is getting a national audience. But the bands greatest accomplishment may be transcending their status as a key Canadian cultural touchstone to an integral part of the countrys identity. Their most recent album, Man Machine Poem, hit No. He painted landscapes with his words, elevating Canadian geography, historical figures, and myths, Trudeau said on Wednesday. Today Bodie is an authentic, intact ghost town. The album was raw, experimental and far removed from the rock radio world the Hip inhabited: droning organs, atonal guitar screeches and accordions competed for sonic space with Downies vocals atop opiated folk-country songs. Edgar died in November 2015. [50] Downie and Usher separated in 2015 before Downie's cancer diagnosis.

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