“For almost five decades, Gord Downie uncovered and told the stories of Canada,” Trudeau said. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released a statement that touched on Downie’s role as an influencer on Canada’s culture. He was known for championing the causes of the country’s indigenous people, social justice and the environment. “If you’re a musician and you’re born in Canada it’s in your DNA to like the Tragically Hip,” Green said.ĭownie also released five solo albums from 2001 to 2016, which only increased fans’ adoration of him.Īnd as much as Canada loved Downie, he loved it back. Tragically Hip lead singer Gord Downie says goodbye in his hometownīorn in Kingston, Ontario, Downie loved playing hockey and became a lifelong fan of the Boston Bruins, which was strengthened by his godfather, Harry Sinden, serving as the team’s coach and general manager.īut he loved music and songwriting even more.įormed in 1984, the Hip, as the band is commonly called, became one of Canada’s premiere groups with hits such as “Wheat Kings,” “Bobcaygeon” and “Ahead by a Century.”Ĭity and Colour’s Dallas Green told The Canadian Press in June 2016 that Downie was “the gold standard – the way he writes and cares about music and the way he cares about the song.” “This feels like the right thing to do now, for Gord, and for all of us,” the band said at the time in a statement. Tragically Hip toured in summer 2016 as a way of dealing with the singer’s diagnosis. Tragically Hip singer Gord Downie has terminal cancer The singer announced last year he had been diagnosed in December 2015 with terminal brain cancer. Statement - /Z6dHmr1xpM- The Tragically Hip October 18, 2017 “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.” “Last night Gord quietly passed away with his beloved children and family close by,” the statement read. The statement was released via the band’s official Twitter account and posted on its website. 20, 2016, which was broadcast to millions and attended by Prime Minister Trudeau.Gord Downie, frontman of the Canadian rock band Tragically Hip, has died, his family said in a statement Wednesday.
22 at 9 p.m. Downie first bought attention to the issue in a big way at the final concert by The Hip, in their hometown of Kingston, Aug.
#GORD DOWNIE FAMILY LIFE TV#
A special entitled Gord Downie’s Secret Path in Concert will make its broadcast premiere on CBC TV and stream here on Oct. The story told of the shameful period in Canada’s history not taught in schools and he created The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund, with brother Mike Downie, to continue to right the wrongs and bring together “white” Canadians with the Indigenous Peoples. That multi-disciplinary passion project sought to bring attention to reconciliation by spotlighting the death of an Anishinaabe boy, Chanie Wenjack, 50 years ago who ran away from a residential school. He sweetly started kissing his friends, family and bandmates on the lips, holding their faces between his hands, as seen frequently onstage both with The Hip and when he performed his solo shows for Secret Path. The Tragically Hip had been going strong more than 30 years.Ĭanadians Say Farewell to Dying Tragically Hip Singer Gord Downie
#GORD DOWNIE FAMILY LIFE FULL#
Since revealing his diagnosis publicly in May 2016, Downie went full force, creatively and physically: he pushed himself (his doctor advising and monitoring his health) to embark on a farewell tour with The Tragically Hip - with bandmates guitarists Paul Langlois and Rob Baker, bassist Gord Sinclair, drummer Johnny Fay - to promote their latest album, Man Machine Poem (recorded before knowledge of his cancer), and embrace the profound love Canadians of all ages had for him. The line “drop a caribou” was slang for making a phone call - the animal appears on the Canadian quarter.ĭownie, who received the Order of Canada in June, was an unofficial ambassador to the country, the leader of a band that best represented Canada and the nation’s media have been providing wall-to-wall coverage of his death all morning as if mourning a head of state. We sang along to songs referencing Bill Barilko (Toronto Maple Leafs star), Bobcaygeon (a community in Eastern Ontario), Millhaven maximum security prison or the Golden Rim Motor Inn (a quirky hotel in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia). Gord Downie, Frontman of The Tragically Hip, Dies at 53 After Battle with Brain Cancer
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