Geddy Lee — music (rush) with roots in the Russian Empire
Geddy Lee is the bassist, vocalist, and keyboardist of Rush — the Canadian rock trio whose progressive, technically demanding music influenced generations of musicians. With Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart, he created one of rock's most distinctive bodies of work across 40 years.
Tracing the roots — Starachowice (Pol)
Born Gary Lee Weinrib in Toronto in 1953, his parents Mary and Morris were Jewish survivors of Nazi concentration camps who had emigrated from Starachowice, Poland (then under Soviet occupation, formerly Russian Empire). His mother's Yiddish pronunciation of 'Gary' as 'Geddy' became his stage name — a direct trace of his Eastern European Jewish heritage.
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Starachowice (Pol). At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.
A career defined by ambition
"My name is Geddy because of how my mother said Gary. That's all of my family history in one word."