“I worry about my voice 24/7 when I’m on tour. It’s like a pitcher and his arm. It’s constantly the thing that my whole life revolves around,” said Geddy Lee, the famous lead singer and bass player for Rush.
As I mentioned in my first column, I fell in love with Rush in middle school kind of by accident. My dad was working from home because of COVID and was quietly playing some Rush tunes in the background.
Lee’s unique voice and the insane complexity of the music really drew me in. I couldn’t explain it but I wanted to hear more.
In addition to the instant appeal of the music, I was drawn to Rush even more once I learned that Lee is Jewish like me. My Jewish background plays a big part in my life and I was curious how Lee’s Jewish identity contributed to his life and art as a musician.
Lee is much more than a legendary musician to me. Understanding that his parents were Holocaust survivors and that he is a secular Jew makes his journey far more interesting. Like other fortunate Jews in the last century, his family became part of the diaspora following the Holocaust and made their way to a new life in Canada.
His success comes in part from this personal sense of survival and recovery from past trauma. This perseverance is one part of what it has meant to be Jewish for over four thousand years. This reflection on Lee’s life and music is the second part of my series on how identity influences music and culture.
Geddy Lee, whose real name is Gary Lee Weinrib, was born in Toronto in 1953. Growing up, Lee heard all these stories about what his family had to go through just to survive Auschwitz and start over in Canada. You can really tell that their experiences shaped how he looks at the world. He talks a lot about feeling this pressure to make something meaningful out of his life.
If you listen closely, you can see how his Jewish background sneaks into his music — not in a super obvious way, but through the stuff Rush sings about: feeling like an outsider, searching for identity, and finding hope even when things are tough. Those are all topics a lot of Jewish families know about, especially after the Holocaust.
Even though Lee says he’s a secular Jew and doesn’t really follow religious rules, he still cares a lot about his heritage and where his family came from. He’s even called himself a “Jewish Atheist,” which is kind of funny but also makes sense. I kind of feel the same way.
Lee basically took all the things his parents taught him about resilience and not giving up and poured that into his music. That’s probably why Rush’s songs appeal to me so much — they’re not just super technical and cool, but also full of feeling.
Knowing that someone with a background like mine could turn incredibly painful family history into something creative and powerful makes me feel way more connected to my own roots. It’s like music becomes a way to keep history alive and remind us that our stories matter.
For those interested in learning more about Lee, I highly recommend his autobiography, “My Effin’ Life.” And if you’re new to Rush, I suggest listening to “A Farewell to Kings.” This album contains some of Rush’s greatest hits, including my favorite “Closer to the Heart.”
Thanks for reading and please be on the lookout for my next column where I’ll explore how Heart’s experience as women in male-dominated rock influences their music.
