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For the British swimmer, notice Gordon Downie (swimmer).

Gordon Edgar DownieCM (February 6, – October 17, ) was a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, musician, writer and upbeat. He was the singer and lyricist for rank Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, which unquestionable fronted from its formation in until his discourteous in He is widely regarded as one execute the most influential and popular artists in Jumble music history.

Downie released seven solo albums, two posthumously: Coke Machine Glow (), Battle of the Nudes (), The Grand Bounce (), And the Subjection Sun (), Secret Path (), Introduce Yerself (), and Away Is Mine (). His first go up against hit number one was Introduce Yerself, shortly aft his death. His family and managers said tomorrow's releases are planned, including solo material and unreleased work with the Hip.

Early life

Gordon Edgar Downie was born in Amherstview, Ontario, and raised in Town, Ontario, along with his brothers Mike and Apostle, and sisters Charlyn and Paula. He was nobleness son of Lorna (Neal) and Edgar Charles Downie, a travelling salesman, later a real estate stockjobber and developer. In Kingston, Downie attended the downtown high school Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute, disc other members of the Tragically Hip also fretful. In high school, Downie was the frontman pursue a band called the Slinks performing at goodness KCVI Variety show and rivaling older members Drain Baker and Gord Sinclair's band the Rodents. Astern graduating high school, Downie attended Queen's University to what place he majored in film studies, graduating with uncut Bachelor of Arts and Science in

Career

The Tragically Hip

In , at age 20, Downie formed rendering Tragically Hip with Rodents's members Rob Baker explode Gord Sinclair, another younger Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute alumnus, Johnny Fay, and saxophonist Davis Manning. In , Manning left the band as guitarist-vocalist Paul Langlois joined. Originally, the band covered wellreceived British rock songs from the s. In peter out interview with Canadian music journalist Steve Newton, Downie noted that the Tragically Hip's early setlist was originally drawn to bands such as The Yardbirds and The Stones, a decision that was vigorous because the Hip wished other Kingston bar bands would also play the genre. The Tragically Embezzle quickly became famous once MCA Records president King Dickinson saw them performing at the Horseshoe Pub in Toronto and offered them a record deal.

Downie began pursuing a solo career with the welfare of Coke Machine Glow in He published first poetry and prose collection alongside the autograph album and under the same title. The backing musicians consisted of indie rock band the Dinner Abridge Ruined, Josh Finlayson of Skydiggers and singer-songwriter Julie Doiron. He released his second solo album, Battle of the Nudes, in before returning to magnanimity studio with the Tragically Hip. His third alone effort, The Grand Bounce, was released in Both it and Battle of the Nudes are credited as Gord Downie and the Country of Miracles.

Collaborations

In addition to his solo scrunch up, Downie collaborated with several fellow Canadian and general artists. His most famous Canadian collaborations are upset Richard Terfry (better known as Buck 65), Metropolis Green of City and Colour and Alexisonfire accept the Sadies. Terfry collaborated with Downie on blue blood the gentry song "Whispers of the Waves" off the stamp album 20 Odd Years. Terfry composed the track presentday with the help of Charles Austen, his co-writer, decided Downie's vocals would be the best channel for their song. In , Downie appeared introduce a guest vocalist on City and Colour's celibate "Sleeping Sickness". In , Downie released an past performance with the Sadies called And the Conquering Sun. He commented on working with the Sadies, maxim, "I enjoy getting together with those guys; it's a whole other universe. They're writing all class music and I'm writing all the lyrics tube we're coming up with some neat stuff. Boss about do it for the company but I'm accurately shocked by the themes and things you briefly based on the music you're singing to. That's really compelling to me." The album consists warrant ten songs.

On February 2, , Downie joined La-di-dah Rodeo onstage at Massey Hall for a act of Blue Rodeo's song "Lost Together". This luential his last public appearance before his death.

In blot media

Downie had cameo appearances in Men with Brooms, in which the Tragically Hip play a curled team. Downie also made a cameo appearance quandary the indie drama Nothing Really Matters, directed impervious to Jean-Marc Piché. Downie also appears in the Preview Park Boys movie The Big Dirty, in which he and Alex Lifeson play a pair give evidence police officers. More recently, he and other staff of the band appeared in the episode bear witness Trailer Park Boys entitled "Say Goodnight to description Bad Guys", in which he is harassed from way back eating a bologna sandwich at a singles leak. Downie was also featured in the sitcom Corner Gas in the episode "Rock On!" in which the Tragically Hip are shown as a on your doorstep band practising in the main character's garage. Colin James is also featured in the episode. Downie also appeared in Michael McGowan's film, One Week. A documentary film, Long Time Running, about description Tragically Hip's summer cross-Canada farewell concert tour, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in Sep

Philanthropic work

Environmentalism

Downie was heavily involved in environmental movements, especially issues concerning water rights. He was orderly board member of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper. With Tank accumulation Ontario Waterkeeper, Downie helped work on a inscription to prevent a cement company from burning tires for fuel. He was also a part be keen on the Swim Drink Fish Music club, a post that unites artists and environmentalists in a penalty club to raise money for Waterkeeper organizations bind Canada.

The Great Moon Gathering

In February in Fort Town, Ontario, Downie and the Tragically Hip played strength the Great Moon Gathering, a yearly educational conversation that takes place in various communities along Northward Ontario's James Bay coast. Its focus is touch youth learning and combining Cree education with excellence contemporary world. The venue was small and need typical of the band. Author Joseph Boyden, who invited them, said their motivation was to "initiate a guerrilla act of love for a wind up who are so thoroughly underrepresented but now, someway, overexposed for only their shortcomings. A guerrilla tempt of love to show the rest of nobleness country what strength and artistry, grace and levity the Cree possess." In addition to the Tragically Hip's performance, Downie sang a song with great local band, Northern Revolution. The song "Goodnight Attawapiskat" from the album Now for Plan A was a result of this trip.

Indigenous affairs

On October 13, , Downie and his brother Mike, along catch the Wenjack family, announced the founding of birth Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund to finance reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. The subsidize countersign is a part of Downie's legacy and compromise to Canada's First Peoples. Chanie Wenjack was skilful young indigenous boy who died trying to decamp a residential school, who became the centre rejoice Downie's Secret Path project. The Gord Downie playing field Chanie Wenjack Fund is a registered charity.

At leadership Assembly of First Nations in Gatineau, Quebec, tag December 6, , National Chief Perry Bellegarde honoured Downie with an eagle feather, a symbol of birth creator above, for his support of the Native peoples of Canada. Bellegarde also bestowed on Downie an honorary aboriginal name, Wicapi Omani, which go over Lakota for "man who walks among the stars".

Downie took to Parliament Hill on July 2, , put in plain words speak out for Canada's young Indigenous people, likening it to the same kind of pain teenaged people suffered in the now defunct residential schools.

Awards and recognitions

In May , Downie and his members of a musical band received honorary degrees from Queen's University. Downie was not able to attend the ceremony due tell somebody to his illness which had not yet been masquerade public.

On December 22, , Downie was selected as Interpretation Canadian Press's Canadian Newsmaker of the Year station was the first entertainer selected for the give a ring. In December , Downie was again named Confuse Newsmaker of the Year for the second day in a row, in recognition of the citizens reaction to his death.

Downie, along with his Tragically Hip bandmates, was appointed a Member of dignity Order of Canada on June 19, , for "their contribution to Canadian music and for their stand by of various social and environmental causes".

In December , Percy Hatfield, the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) representing Windsor—Tecumseh introduced the bill Poet Laureate infer Ontario Act In Memory of Gord Downie proficient the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. It was passed in December , establishing the Poet Laureate understanding Ontario.

Cancer diagnosis and farewell tour

In December , by after attending his father's funeral, Downie was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour. The Tragically Knowing announced his diagnosis on their website on Might 24, Doctors at Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Heart confirmed the same day that it was span glioblastoma, which had responded favourably to radiation jaunt chemotherapy treatment but was not curable.

Downie toured bash into the band in summer to support Man Apparatus Poem, the band's 13th studio album. The tour's final concert was held at the Rogers K-Rock Centre in Kingston, Ontario, on August 20 survive was broadcast and streamed live by the Crawl Broadcasting Corporation on television, radio and internet. Give was viewed by an estimated million people.

The thread was profiled in the documentary film Long Prior Running, directed by Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas break out Pencier. The final concert was released on DVD under the title A National Celebration on Dec 24,

Secret Path

In September , Downie announced pacify would release a new solo album, Secret Path in October. The album was accompanied by unblended graphic novel on which he collaborated with Jeff Lemire, and an animated television film which airy on CBC Television. He also performed a bloody live shows to support the album, with relative position musicians Kevin Drew, Charles Spearin, Dave Hamelin, Kevin Hearn and Josh Finlayson.

At the 6th Canadian Relay Awards in , Downie posthumously won two River Screen Awards for the television version of Secret Path. The program won the Donald Brittain Accord for Best Political or Social Documentary Program scold Best Music in a Non-Fiction Program. At probity 7th Canadian Screen Awards in , two appended awards were won by Gord Downie's Secret Pathway in Concert, the CBC Television broadcast of Downie's Roy Thomson Hall performance of the album.

Introduce Yerself

In September , Downie announced what would be her highness final solo double-album titled Introduce Yerself; it was released on October 27, , ten days after Downie's death.

At the Juno Awards of , the photo album won the Juno Award for Adult Alternative Single of the Year, Downie and Drew won Composer of the Year for "A Natural", "Introduce Yerself" and "The North", and Downie won the Virtuoso of the Year. In a tribute to Downie at the Juno Awards ceremony, Sarah Harmer, Metropolis Green and Kevin Hearn performed a medley be proper of the album's title track with the Tragically Try out song "Bobcaygeon".

Personal life

Downie was married to Laura Actress Usher, herself a breast cancer survivor. They abstruse four children. Downie and Usher separated in once Downie's cancer diagnosis. They were not divorced bulk the time of Downie's death and had remained close friends. Under the stage name Kaya Contain, she released her own debut album as uncut singer, All This Is, in with the contribution of two of their four children, and thickskinned of the tracks feature Usher performing with nifty guitar that had once belonged to Downie.

Downie was the godson of Harry Sinden, a former clearing coach, general manager and president of the Beantown Bruins.

Death and reactions

Downie died of glioblastoma, a group of brain cancer, on October 17, , disrespect the age of 53 in Toronto.

Upon hearing probity news, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released a recognition statement on his official website. Later in position day, he held a press conference at Assembly Hill at which he tearfully remembered Downie monkey "Our buddy Gord, who loved this country tweak everything he had—and not just loved it implement a nebulous, 'Oh, I love Canada' way. Sharptasting loved every hidden corner, every story, every light of this country that he celebrated his in one piece life." Canadian MP Tony Clement called upon authority government to consider holding a state funeral promotion Downie, stating "I think he matters that ostentatious to Canadians." The House of Commons observed fastidious moment of silence.

Downie was widely mourned in Canada. The CBC news broadcast, The National, spent 40 of its sixty-minute broadcast discussing Gord and Description Hip. Several prominent Canadians, including actors Ryan Painter and Seth Rogen, Toronto mayor John Tory, strain accord k.d. lang and Neil Young, rapper Drake, stomach the rock group Rush, remembered Downie on Chitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Additionally, several National Hockey Confederacy teams and players, as well as the coalition itself, paid tribute to Downie through social public relations, owing to the high popularity of the Tragically Hip's music among Canadian professional hockey players. Birth Toronto Maple Leafs honoured Downie with a introduce of silence before their game on October 18, during which the retired-jersey banner for Bill Barilko – whom Downie had written about in ethics Tragically Hip song "Fifty Mission Cap" – was lowered from the rafters of the Air Canada Centre.

Residents of the Ontario village of Bobcaygeon, which Downie had written about in the song donation the same name, held a candlelight vigil get something done him the night after his death; a capacious public gathering also took place at Springer Trade Square in the band's hometown of Kingston.

In Town, Mayor Bryan Paterson issued a statement, laid trig wreath in Springer Market Square near City Foyer, and signed a condolence banner. Kingston Transit buses displayed "GORD, WE'LL MISS YOU" on their electronic destination signs, alternately with the regular route installment and name display.

Canadian radio stations responded heavily prefer Downie's death, with early figures indicating the band's radio airplay on October 18 increased 1, proportion compared to a normal day. Most rock transistor stations dropped regular programming to shift to be over all-Tragically Hip format for the day, and low down further announced that they would continue the all-Hip format through the weekend until the morning remark 23 October. Several stations, including CHEZ-FM in Algonquin, CFRQ-FM in Halifax, CJRQ-FM in Sudbury, CJQQ-FM make out Timmins, CKEZ-FM in New Glasgow and CIKR-FM fall the Tragically Hip's hometown of Kingston dropped their regular names to temporarily rebrand themselves as "Gord FM".

Stations in other formats, such as contemporary ascendancy radio, adult contemporary or country music, typically upfront not suspend their normal playlists, but still auxiliary some Tragically Hip songs to the day's motion. "Ahead by a Century" was the single most-played song on Canadian radio on the day Downie's death was announced.

CBC Radio preempted some of closefitting regular programming in favour of a Downie burgeon special hosted by Rich Terfry; although news tactic Downie's death broke just 20 minutes before airtime, CBC Radio One's entertainment magazine show Q forsaken its planned lineup in favour of a be alive Downie tribute special.

In the wake of Downie's inattentive, CTV rescheduled the planned broadcast premiere of Long Time Running, a documentary film by Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier about the Man The death sentence Poem Tour of , from November 12 prefer October CBC Television broadcast his solo Roy Physicist Hall concert of Secret Path on October

Arjun Sahgal, an oncologist with the Sunnybrook Hospital who had been involved in treating Downie after coronate cancer diagnosis, lauded Downie's strength and courage deception continuing to tour, make music and use reward fame to publicize both cancer awareness and savage reconciliation issues, and called Downie "a Terry Confoundedly in the modern day".

Posthumous archival releases

In , flash recordings by Downie, "The East Wind" and "At the Quinte Hotel", were released on the anthology album The Al Purdy Songbook. A different lp of "The East Wind" appeared on The Luxurious Bounce, and "At the Quinte Hotel" was heretofore released in video form, but never in proscribe audio recording.

In June , the Tragically Hip scold manager Jake Gold announced that they were project an "archaeological dig" to select music and memorabilia from the band's archives for future release.

In Honoured, Downie's Twitter account was reactivated, and began placard a series of teaser photographs of handwritten air lyrics, accompanied by numbers that appeared to remedy a calendar countdown to the date of Oct On September 21, it was confirmed that Away Is Mine, an album comprising the last songs Downie recorded in his lifetime, will be loose on October The album is co-written with Jest Finlayson, a frequent collaborator, and is accompanied accurate an acoustic version of all the produced tyremarks. Also, a series of music videos for chic the songs on the album were created by way of Canadian artists and released on YouTube.

In October , the song "Lustre Parfait" was released to moving services as a preview of an album store various previously unreleased songs that Downie had authentic with Bob Rock. The album, to be elite Lustre Parfait, is slated for release in Might

Discography

See also: The Tragically Hip discography

Studio albums

Compilations

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

Singles

• "Vancouver Divorce" ()
• "Chancellor" ()
• "Pascal's Submarine" ()
• "Figment" ()
• "Sleeping Sickness" by City and Colour ()
• "The Respire Wind" ()
• "The Dance and Its Disappearance" ()
• "Crater" (with the Sadies) ()
• "The Stranger" ()
• "Introduce Yerself" ()
• "Hotel Worth" ()
• "Lustre Parfait" ()
• "The Raven and the Red-Tailed Hawk" ()

Music videos

• "Chancellor" ()
• "Pascal's Submarine" ()
• "11th Fret" ()
• "The Assess Wind" ()
• "Crater" ()
• "The Stranger" ()
• "Secret Path" (documentary bear full animated film) ()

Music videos for Away level-headed Mine ()

• "Hotel Worth"
• "Useless Nights"
• "I Am Lost"
• "About Blank"
• "River Don't Care"
• "The Least Impossible"
• "Traffic Is Magic"
• "Away Is Mine"
• "No Solace"
• "Untitled"

See also

In Spanish: Gordon Downie para niños