Today, January 7th, marks the fifth anniversary of the death of Rush drummer Neil Peart.
The announcement came three days later -- on January 10th -- that he had passed in Santa Monica, California at age 67. The cause was brain cancer, which he'd had for three years and sworn all those he told to secrecy.
He is survived by his wife Carrie and his daughter Olivia.
Peart, acclaimed as one of the most influential drummers of his era, was a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and Canadian Songwriter's Hall of Fame member along with his bandmates Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson. The band retired from the road in 2015 because Peart wanted to spend more time with his family.
Peart was born on September 12th, 1952 and grew up in Port Dalhousie, Ontario. He first took piano lessons before he started drumming. His parents bought him a pair of drum sticks, a practice drum and some lessons for his 13th birthday, and promised him a full kit on his next birthday if he stuck with it.
He went to England when he was 18 in hopes of launching his musical career, but after 18 months he returned to Canada and started working for his father selling tractor parts. After playing with a couple of local bands, Peart was convinced by a friend to audition for Rush, who needed a replacement for original drummer John Rutsey. He got the gig and joined them on July 29th, 1974.
Geddy and Alex discovered that Peart had a knack for words, so they relied on him to pen lyrics for the music they wrote. The trio worked that way for the rest of their career. Peart's first album with the trio was 1975's Fly by Night, and together they made 18 studio albums that sold over 25 million copies in the U.S. alone.
Rush took a long break from 1997 to 2002 after Peart's 19-year-old daughter Selena Taylor was killed in a single-car accident in August 1997. Then his partner of 23 years, Jacqueline Taylor, died of cancer just 10 months later. Peart ended up traveling across North America on his motorcycle which he documented his second book, Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road. Peart ended up writing eight non-fiction books, most of which covered his travels on motorcycle during Rush's tours. He also collaborated with sci-fi author Kevin J. Anderson on four books, the final two inspired by Rush's last album, Clockwork Angels.