Despite conflicting with its coverage of the Summer Games in Rio, the CBC broadcast the last show of the tour live, in the Hip’s hometown of Kingston, Ont., and thousands of fans also attended public viewing parties across the country to experience the band’s swan song.Īn impassioned Downie led the group through a nearly three-hour set and acknowledged the country’s enthusiastic support.
Interest was off the charts and tickets sold out nearly immediately. In the aftermath of the shocking May 2016 announcement that Downie had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer the band said it would mount a tour - which many assumed would be the Hip’s last. The last chapter of his career found Downie using his time in the spotlight to focus more attention on the issues facing Indigenous communities in Canada. VIDEO: Gord Downie to be appointed to the Order of Canada So my function in anything I do is to help bring people closer in.” That stuff doesn’t interest me and I don’t even know if I could write that if I tried because I don’t really feel it. “Nor have I written any pro-Canada lyrics, any kind of jingoistic, nationalistic cant…. “I haven’t written too many political lyrics,” he said in an interview with The Canadian Press in 2014. While the Hip was frequently described as quintessentially Canadian, Downie had dismissed the suggestion that he set out to celebrate his homeland in song. No one.”ĭownie, one of Canada’s most revered singer-songwriters, penned a steady stream of 1990s rock radio staples including “New Orleans Is Sinking,” “Blow at High Dough,” “Courage (For Hugh MacLennan),” “Ahead By a Century” and “Bobcaygeon.” While Hip albums released in the 2000s didn’t produce nearly as many hits, the band hung on to its unofficial status as Canada’s favourite rock band. No one worked harder on every part of their life than Gord. At home, he worked just as tirelessly at being a good father, son, brother, husband and friend. “As a musician, he lived ‘the life’ for over 30 years, lucky to do most of it with his high school buddies. “Gord said he had lived many lives,” said the statement, which was attributed to the Downie family. “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.ĭownie spent the last chapter of his life raising funds for brain cancer research and advocating for the rights of Canada’s Indigenous Peoples. In the wake of his diagnosis with glioblastoma - an incurable form of cancer - the musician became a symbol of perseverance in the face of his mortality.
He was 53.ĭownie died Tuesday night “with his beloved children and family close by,” the band said in a statement on its website Wednesday morning. Gord Downie, the poetic lead singer of the Tragically Hip whose determined fight with brain cancer inspired a nation, has died.
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