The Rush drummer, who has died at 67, was worshipped by fans and beloved by friends
“He was one of the goofiest-looking guys I’d ever seen,” Geddy Lee told me in November 2018. Rush’s singer and bass player was talking about his first encounter with Neil Peart, his bandmate from 29 July 1974 until their final gig, almost exactly 40 years later, on 1 August 2014.
“He was very tall, lanky,” said Lee. “And he had short hair. All of us had major hair. He had spent two years living in
England before that. We didn’t know this. But he had just moved back home and given up his dream of playing in a rock band. And he was working for his dad’s farm equipment store. He drove up in this little sports car, drums were hanging out from every corner. He comes in, this big goofy guy with a small drum kit with 18-inch bass drums. Alex [Lifeson] and I were chuckling – we thought he was a hick from the country. And then he sat down behind this kit and pummelled the drums, and us. I’d never heard a drummer like that, someone with that power and dexterity. As far as I was concerned, he was hired from the minute he started playing.”