Gord Downie frontman for Tragically Hip passes away at 53

[Viva la FCB+]

Im not a huge fan although i would listen to them from time to time, the amount of songs i do know says something. He meant alot to the Canadian rock scene. He will be missed. 

Gord Downie, the legendary front man of the Canadian rock band the Tragically Hip, has died at the age of 53.

In a statement posted online, the band confirmed that Downie died “with his beloved children and family close by” on Tuesday night.

The beloved Canadian musician was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a terminal form of brain cancer, in December 2015. He leaves behind four children.

“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,” the statement said.

As news of Downie’s death spread Wednesday morning,condolences flooded in across social media from musicians, fans, and politicians, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who tweeted that “Canada’s identity & culture are richer for Gord Downie’s work.” He also took a moment to express his gratitude towards his friend to reporters gathered in Ottawa.

“We are less as a country without Gord Downie in it,” a tearful Trudeau told reporters on Parliament Hill. “We all knew it was coming but we hoped it wasn’t. I thought I was going to make it through this, but I’m not. It hurts.”

Known for his distinctive voice and poetic lyrics, Downie has been a fixture on the Canadian music scene since “The Hip,” as his band is lovingly called by their fans, formed while they were in high school in 1984 in Kingston, Ont. They released their first self-titled EP three years later, in 1987.

For more than 30 years, the singer-songwriter wrote countless hits such as, “Bobcaygeon,” “Ahead By a Century,” “Courage,” and “New Orleans is Sinking.”

With more than a dozen Tragically Hip studio albums, and several other solo projects, Downie was considered one of the Canada’s most revered singer-songwriters.

In 2005, The Hip was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the Juno Awards Show in Winnipeg, cementing the band’s place in this country’s music history.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/tragically-hip-frontman-gord-downie-dies-at-53-1.3637357

Although they never reached the same level of fame in the U.S. or elsewhere, the musicians were repeatedly honoured at home with 16 Juno Awards, a star on the Canadian Walk of Fame and a dedicated postage stamp with their image on it.

Fans learned of Downie’s sickness in May of last year when the band also announced they would be heading on tour for their 14th studio album “Man Machine Poem,” which many believed would be their last.

The 15-show “farewell tour” in the summer of 2016 quickly sold out stadiums. The final stop, in the band’s hometown of Kingston, Ont. in August, was broadcast live across the country.

Downie capitalized on the increased attention during the tour to highlight problems facing Indigenous communities in Canada. He gave a special shout out to Trudeau during the Kingston concert thanking him for his efforts to mend relations with First Nations.

"He cares about the people way up North, that we were trained our entire lives to ignore, trained our entire lives to hear not a word of what's going on up there. And what's going on up there ain't good,” he told the crowd. “(But) we're going to get it fixed and we got the guy to do it, to start, to help."

In recognition of his work to bring awareness to Indigenous issues, Downie was inducted into the Order of Canada in June.

[Harry]

RIP. 

Seems like your PM was quite emotional about it too. He really teared up? 

I've definitely heard of the hip but i couldn't name a song by them that I've heard and remember. Good band name.  We get more by Neil young and status quo over here than the hip 

[Spike]

The PM of Canada is a moron like Trump. He'd probably  never heard of them but decided that they'd make good PR.

Fucking politicians. 

[Viva la FCB+]

18 hours ago, Spike said:

The PM of Canada is a moron like Trump. He'd probably  never heard of them but decided that they'd make good PR.

Fucking politicians. 

I mean he was at their farewell concert, wearing a TH shirt. Sure could be a publicity stunt, but he seemed genuine when interviewed even back then. He described them as friends, seemed real to me. At the very least hes a better liar then that moron above us if thats the case.

[Spike]

1 hour ago, Viva la FCB said:

I mean he was at their farewell concert, wearing a TH shirt. Sure could be a publicity stunt, but he seemed genuine when interviewed even back then. He described them as friends, seemed real to me. At the very least hes a better liar then that moron above us if thats the case.

Maybe. I'm just so cynical when it comes to these sorts of things. What a world we live in where the president of the US is a reality TV star and the Canadian PM was voted in because he is 'handsome'.

[Viva la FCB+]

15 minutes ago, Spike said:

Maybe. I'm just so cynical when it comes to these sorts of things. What a world we live in where the president of the US is a reality TV star and the Canadian PM was voted in because he is 'handsome'.

Hard not to be cynical these days. It really is something, We'll be able to look back and say we lived durring the times of trump being president of the world police. I have hope that it is a blip on the map and not a trend, but who knows the social media driven world we are in blah i dont want to get started.

[Spike]

Anyway, not that I know too many songs by the Tragically Hip, I do like what I've heard. RIP

[Viva la FCB+]

I went to the Juno's when they where in Vancouver i want to say it was around 2011, they performed this song live. Probably still my favourite hes involved in.