41 Facts About Geddy Lee

Geddy Lee Weinrib is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the rock group Rush.

In 2006, Geddy Lee was ranked 13th by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Vocalists of All Time.

Geddy Lee's parents were Jewish Holocaust survivors from Poland who had survived the ghetto in Starachowice, followed by their imprisonments at Auschwitz and later Dachau and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps during the Holocaust and World War II.

Geddy Lee's father died young, which forced Geddy Lee's mother to work to support their three children by running the Newmarket, Ontario, variety store that her husband had owned and managed.

Geddy Lee turned his basement into practice space for a band he formed with high school friends.

Geddy Lee's mother was devastated when he gave her the news.

The song, for which Geddy Lee wrote the music, was released on the band's 1984 album Grace Under Pressure.

Geddy Lee began playing music in school when he was 10 or 11 and received his first acoustic guitar at 14.

Geddy Lee's interest increased dramatically after listening to some of the popular rock groups at the time.

Geddy Lee describes the group during these early years as being "weekend warriors".

Geddy Lee possessed a three-octave vocal range spanning from baritone through tenor, alto, and mezzo-soprano pitch ranges; however, his range significantly decreased with age.

Geddy Lee's playing style is widely regarded for his use of high treble and very hard playing of the strings and for utilizing the bass as a lead instrument, often contrapuntal to Lifeson's guitar.

From 1993's Counterparts onward, Geddy Lee began using the Fender Jazz Bass almost exclusively, returning to his trademark high treble sound.

Geddy Lee began adding synthesizers in 1977, with the release of A Farewell to Kings.

However, Geddy Lee has contributed to a body of work outside of his involvement with the band through guest appearances and album production.

In 1980, Geddy Lee was brought in to produce Toronto-based band Wireless who had previously opened up for Rush and were on the verge of breaking up.

In 1981, Geddy Lee was the featured guest for the hit song "Take Off" and its included comedic commentary with Bob and Doug McKenzie for the McKenzie Brothers' comedy album Great White North, which was released on Rush's Anthem label.

In 1982, Geddy Lee produced the first album from Toronto's new wave band Boys Brigade.

Geddy Lee sang "O Canada", the Canadian national anthem, at Baltimore's Camden Yards for the 1993 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

Geddy Lee plays bass on Canadian rock band I Mother Earth's track "Good for Sule", which is featured on the group's 1999 album Blue Green Orange.

Geddy Lee appeared in Broken Social Scene's music video for their 2006 single "Fire Eye'd Boy", judging the band while performing various musical tasks.

In 2006, Geddy Lee joined Lifeson's supergroup, the Big Dirty Band, to provide songs accompanying Trailer Park Boys: The Movie.

In 2020, Geddy Lee provided guest vocals to an all-star Canadian rendition of the late Bill Withers song "Lean on Me" during the TV special Stronger Together, Tous Ensemble, a Canadian benefit performance simulcast by every major television network in Canada as a benefit for Food Banks Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In September 2021, Barenaked Ladies frontman Ed Robertson revealed that he was working on a "secret project" with Geddy Lee, which turned out to be callouts for a subsequent Rush pinball machine.

In November 2023, Geddy Lee published an autobiography titled My Effin' Life.

Each episode features Geddy Lee visiting with and talking to the guest bassist.

Geddy Lee is a collector, and has collected baseball ephemera, vintage bass guitars, and wines, with a collection of 5,000 bottles.

Geddy Lee went on to collect first edition books as well as bass guitars.

Geddy Lee collects baseball memorabilia, once donating part of his collection to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, and threw the ceremonial first pitch to inaugurate the 2013 Toronto Blue Jays season.

Geddy Lee sang the Canadian national anthem before the 1993 MLB All-Star Game.

In 2016, Geddy Lee planned to produce an independent film about baseball in Italy.

Geddy Lee is regularly seen in his seat behind home plate at the Toronto Blue Jays stadium Rogers Centre with his scorecard.

Geddy Lee has a collection of over 250 vintage basses.

Geddy Lee owns a 1961 Fender Precision Bass previously owned by John Entwistle of The Who.

Geddy Lee owns two 1964 Fender Jazz Basses in the rare Dakota Red color.

In 2015, Fender released a revised USA model of his signature bass, with most of the changes reflecting those Geddy Lee had made to his own instrument over the years.

For Rush's 2010 tour, Geddy Lee used two Orange AD200 bass heads together with two OBC410 4x10 bass cabinets.

Geddy Lee uses two types of MIDI controllers: one type resembles a traditional synthesizer keyboard on a stand.

In 1996, Geddy Lee stopped using traditional bass amplifiers on stage, opting to have the bass guitar signals input directly to the touring front-of-house console to improve control and sound definition.

Geddy Lee began using Tech 21 SansAmp units after experimenting with one in the studio intended for Alex Lifeson's guitar and eventually received signature models from the company, most notably the GED-2112 rackmount.

Geddy Lee takes annual trips to France, where he indulges in cheese and wine.