Accomplishments/Awards

Geddy is in the Bass Hall of Fame for Guitar Player Magazine
Has been voted Best Rock Bassist more than 6 times

Geddy won "best Rock Bass player" in the 1993 "Bass Player" readers'poll.

Personal Profile

Geddy Lee was born Gary Lee Weinrib on July 29, 1953. The name "Geddy" comes from his mother's heavily-accented pronunciation of "Gary."
Although not originally a member of Alex's fledgling band, Geddy was soon asked to join up as a guitarist for Rush, and eventually lost two strings and a few octaves to join the ranks of the rhythm section. By default, almost, he also became the singer.
Geddy is a member of Guitar Player magazine's Bass Hall of Fame and was voted "Best Rock Bass Player" by the readers of Bass Player magazine in 1993. With Rush, he also has eight Juno awards and two Grammy nominations, and was given the Order of Canada in January, 1997.

"Sports Fanatic" is almost as accurate a description of Geddy as "Master Bassist" is. Baseball is his favorite sport. He also enjoys tennis, hockey, and, according to an interview in (oddly enough) Rolling Stone, recently took up long-distance running.
Projects outside of Rush include the solo record My Favortie Headache and producing albums for the groups Wireless and Boys Brigade.
Geddy is married to Nancy, and has two children: a son, Julian, and a daughter, Kyla.

Taken From
Success Under Pressure -- by Steve Gett

Geddy Lee once declared that if he had a nickel for every insult about his voice, he would probably be a millionaire! His high-pitched vocal chords have certainly come under a good deal of fire over the years, but when one considers Rush's popularity there must be an awful lot of folks who favor his unique style of singing. Yet, it's not just with his voice that Geddy has made a name for himself. His tremendous all-round capabilities, both as a musician and a songwriter, have led him to be held in high esteem throughout the rock world.

Originally hailing from the Toronto suburb of Willowdale, Geddy began his musical career as a rhythm guitarist and was forced to switch to four strings when the bassist in one of his early bands quit. After joining Rush in the fall of 1968, he subsequently developed into an extremely versatile bass player. Shortly beforer the trio recorded A Farewell To Kings in 1977, Geddy took up keyboards in order to boost the group's stage and studio sounds.

"When I first started playing keyboards, I just wanted to use the occasional string line," he explains. "But then I felt they were giving us somewhere interesting to go to; helping us to mold our sound into something different than it was before. It's proved to be a real bonus. It's been one hell of a challenge for me and, to tell you the truth, I do get very excited about using keyboards."

Initially limiting himself to a Mini-Moog and one set of Mood Taurus pedals, Geddy has gradually built up a more extensive collection of equipment that now includes an Oberheim OBXA with a DSX Digital Sequencer, two Moog Taurus pedals, a Roland JP 8 Synth and Roland 808 Compu-Rhythm, and a Mini-Moog with a Yamaha E1010 Delay.

However, he finds it hard to consider himself a proficient player and maintains: "I'm still very much in the dabbling stage. Put me beside any real keyboard player and it's a joking matter. And I don't really pretend that I can play. I can write solo lines and melodies, and play basic chord patterns, which is really all I need. But I certainly don't have any illusions about being a Keith Emerson or anything like that."

While Geddy continues to play bass (generally a Steinberger L2 on stage and either a Fender Jazz or a Rickenbacker in the studio), he finds that he tends to handle most of his songwriting on keyboards -- a fact evidenced by the nature of the band's recent works. "Even before I played keyboards, I still wrote more on guitar than bass," he claims, "simply because, even though the bass is a good instrument to write riffs on, it's very hard when you're trying to get melodies across. So I'd say that keyboards kind of took the place of my writing on the guitar. I feel more comfortable with them and it gives me a different point of view, because looking at 88 keys and the way the notes are laid out in front of you is a lot different to picking up a guitar. Being able to play a little bit of keyboards, bass and guitar gives me a whole range to choose from."

Rush obviously consumes a good deal of Geddy's time, but in recent years he has also managed to work on a couple of outside projects. At the beginning of 1982, he made a guest vocal appearance on the comedy single "Take Off", from the Mercury album The Great White North by Bob and Doug McKenzie (alias "Second City TV"'s Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis.) The record actually made the US Top 10, a fact which took a lot of people, including Geddy himself, quite by surprise.

"I went to school with Rick Moranis," he reveals, "and basically grew up with him. When they were doing the album, they called me up and asked me if I'd sing on one of the tracks. So I went down and it took me all of half an hour to do. It was fun; strictly a fun thing to do with some pals. Nobody had any idea it would get as big as it did."

In 1983, Geddy helped out the young Canadian band Boys Brigade by producing their debut album and he did a commendable job. One wonders, though, whether he has the desire to make an Lp of his own.

"Well, I wrote a whole bunch of solo stuff, but that eventually became a part of Signals," he laughs. "I would like to work with other people at some point. I have some good friends who are excellent musicians and I'd definitely like to work on a project with them one day. But I don't really view the idea of a solo album as being a showcase for my 'great talents' that are held back in Rush. If I ever do my own record, it would be along the lines of what I just mentioned -- working with close friends. I can see it coming, but my time gets eaten away so quickly that I can't say when it'll be."

At this juncture, Geddy clearly still views Rush as the best vehicle for his musical output, but, naturally, there will be a time when the group decides to call it a day. Asked why he feels Rush has stayed together for so long, Geddy reasons: "We like each other and still enjoy playing together. Every time we start working on a new album, it's always real creative and exciting. We don't fight a lot; sure we fight, but that's only in real tense situations, whether it be in the studio or because of being out on the road too long -- or if you beat someone at tennis real bad!"

Tennis and other sports, particularly baseball, are among Geddy's main non-musical interests. In fact, he has even expressed interest in running a minor league baseball team. He has been married for a number of years and, when the band isn't on tour or in the studios, he lives outside Toronto.