RUSH bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee will release a memoir in the fall of 2022. The book will be edited Noah Eaker and made available via HarperCollins.
Lee shared the news of his memoir in an Instagram post earlier today (Tuesday, September 21). He wrote: “So, how did I kill time during the pandemic? Little did I know that as of March 2020 I’d be locked down for over a year and a half—the longest time I’d spent in Toronto since I was nineteen and hit the Northern Ontario bar circuit with RUSH.
“Although [my wife] Nancy and I had to cancel a bunch of adventures we’d been planning, there were some shiny silver linings to be found at home: teaching my grandson the finer points of baseball and birdwatching, tending to my pups (one of whom was quite ill) and spending the evenings with my lovely better half, glass of Armagnac in hand, as we watched every European mystery show ever produced. Oh, and another thing: I began to write. Words, that is.
“My friend and collaborator on the ‘Big Beautiful Book Of Bass’, Daniel Richler, saw how I was struggling in the aftermath of [RUSH drummer] Neil‘s [Peart] passing, and tried coaxing me out of my blues with some funny tales from his youth, daring me to share my own in return. So I did—reluctantly at first, but then remembering, oh yeah, I like wrestling with words. It’s a less physical version of arguing with musical notes, without a Ricky doubleneck breaking my back! And soon my baby-step stories were becoming grownup chapters. Being the nuclear obsessive that I am, I’d write and re-write them, reassessing perspectives in the narrative not just by scouring my memory banks but my diaries and piles of photo albums too. I was piecing together a mystery of a different kind.
“I’d then send these improved and even illustrated stories to Daniel, who’d clean up some of the grammar and remove a lot of the swearing (I love to fucking swear), and presto! In a voice that sounded, well, just like me, a presentable, epic-length account of my life on and off the stage was taking shape: my childhood, my family, the story of my parents’ survival, my travels and all sorts of nonsense I’ve spent too much time obsessing over. And Daniel said, ‘I think you’re writing a book. An actual memoir, in fact.’ To which I replied, ‘Hmm… I guess I am.’
“I’m rounding third on this as-of-yet untitled memoir, which will be published by HarperCollins, edited by Noah Eaker, and is scheduled for release in Fall 2022.”
Earlier this month, Lee was honored with a solo Lifetime Achievement Award at the Artists For Peace And Justice (APJ) gala in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Lee was recognized for his “commitment to philanthropy,” including his support of brain cancer research, Toronto Food Bank, Alberta Floods, Doctors Without Borders, Grapes For Humanity, United Way, Canadian Museum For Human Rights and Casey House.
Lee recently appeared on Dave Grohl and his mother Virginia Hanlon‘s series “From Cradle To Stage”, where he spoke about growing up the son of Holocaust survivors with his late mother, Mary Weinrib.
