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Over the course of their decades-spanning career, the Canadian power trio Rush emerged as one of hard rock's most highly-regarded bands; although typically brushed aside by critics and rare recepients of mainstream pop radio airplay, the group nonetheless won an impressive and devoted fan following, while their virtuoso performance skills solidified their standing as musicians' musicians.

Rush formed in Toronto, Ontario in the autumn of 1968, and initially comprised guitarist Alex Lifeson (born Alexander Zivojinovich), vocalist/bassist Geddy Lee (born Gary Lee Weinrib) and drummer John Rutsey. In their primary incarnation, the trio drew a heavy influence from Cream, and honed their skills on the Toronto club circuit before issuing their debut single, a rendition of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away," in 1973. A self-titled LP followed in 1974, at which time Rutsey exited; he was replaced by drummer Neil Peart, who also assumed the role of the band's primary songwriter, composing the cerebral lyrics (influenced by works of science fiction and fantasy) which gradually became a hallmark of the group's aesthetic.

With Peart firmly ensconced, Rush returned in 1975 with a pair of LPs, Fly by Night and Caress of Steel. Their next effort, 1976's 2112, proved to be their breakthrough release: a futuristic concept album based on the writings of Ayn Rand, it fused the elements of the trio's sound -- Lee's high-pitched vocals, Peart's epic-length compositions and Lifeson's complex guitar work -- into a unified whole. Fans loved it -- 2112 was the first in a long line of gold and platinum releases -- while critics dismissed it as overblown and pretentious: either way, it established a formula from which the band rarely deviated throughout the duration of their career.

A Farewell to Kings followed in 1977, and reached the Top 40 in both the U.S. and Britain. After 1978's Hemispheres, Rush achieved even greater popularity with 1980's Permanent Waves, a record marked by Peart's dramatic shift into shorter, less sprawling compositions; the single "The Spirit of Radio" even became a major hit. With 1981's Moving Pictures, the trio scored another hit of sorts with "Tom Sawyer," which garnered heavy exposure on album-oriented radio and became perhaps their best-known song. As the 1980s continued, Rush grew into a phenomenally popular live draw, as albums like 1982's Signals (which generated the smash "New World Man"), 1984's Grace Under Pressure and 1985's Power Windows continued to sell millions of copies.

As the decade drew to a close, the trio cut back on its touring schedule, while hardcore followers complained of a sameness afflicting slicker, synth-driven efforts like 1987's Hold Your Fire and 1989's Presto. At the dawn of the 1990s, however, Rush returned to the heavier sound of their early records and placed a renewed emphasis on Lifeson's guitar heroics; consequently, both 1991's Roll the Bones and 1993's Counterparts reached the Top Three on the U.S. album charts. In 1996, the band issued Test for Echo; another live set, Different Stages, followed two years later.

The above part of the biography was completely compiled by: Jason Ankeny from his `All Music Guide'

The last six years have been devastating to Neil Peart- his daughter was killed in a car crash and his wife was defeated by the ugliness which is cancer

After a long grieving period, Peart remarried and in 2002 approached Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson to make a studio album.

2002, Rush suprised the music world and released their first studio recording in over six years- `Vapor Trails,' which concentrates on layered guitar textures over keyboards, creating a heavier sound much like their 70's roots.

2002–09: Comeback, Vapor Trails, and Snakes & Arrows

With the help of producer Paul Northfield the band returned in May 2002 with Vapor Trails, written and recorded in Toronto. To herald the band's comeback, the single and lead track from the album, "One Little Victory", was designed to grab the attention of listeners with its rapid guitar and drum tempos.[48] Vapor Trails marked the first Rush studio recording to not include any keyboards or synthesizers since Caress of Steel, released 27 years earlier. While the album is almost completely guitar-driven, it is mostly devoid of any traditional guitar solos, a conscious decision by Lifeson. According to the band, the entire developmental process for Vapor Trails was extremely taxing and took approximately 14 months to finish, by far the longest the band had ever spent writing and recording a studio album.The album was supported by the band's first tour in six years, including first-ever concerts in Mexico City and Brazil, where they played to some of the largest crowds of their career.

A live album and DVD, Rush in Rio, was released in late October 2003 featuring an entire concert performance recorded on November 23, 2002, at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The show was the last of the Vapor Trails Tour. To celebrate the band's 30th anniversary, June 2004 saw the release of Feedback, a studio EP recorded in suburban Toronto featuring eight covers of such artists as Cream, The Who and The Yardbirds, bands the members of Rush cite as inspiration around the time of their inception.[49] To help support Feedback and continue celebrating their 30-year anniversary as a band, Rush hit the road again for their 30th Anniversary Tour in the summer of 2004 playing dates in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Sweden, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands. On September 24, 2004, the concert at The Festhalle in Frankfurt, Germany was filmed for a DVD titled R30: 30th Anniversary World Tour, which was released on November 22, 2005. This release omitted eight songs also included on Rush in Rio; the complete concert was released on Blu-ray on December 8, 2009.

During promotional interviews for the R30 DVD, the band members revealed their intention to begin writing new material in early 2006. While in Toronto, Lifeson and Lee began the songwriting process in January 2006. During this time, Peart simultaneously assumed his role of lyric writing while residing in Southern California. The following September, Rush chose to hire American producer Nick Raskulinecz to co-produce the album. The band officially entered Allaire Studios in Shokan, New York in November 2006 to record the bulk of the material. Taking the band five weeks, the sessions ended in December. On February 14, 2007, an announcement was made on the official Rush web site that the title of the new album would be Snakes & Arrows. The first single, entitled "Far Cry", was released to North American radio stations on March 12, 2007 and reached No.2 on the Mediabase Mainstream and Radio and Records Charts.

The Rush website, newly redesigned on March 12, 2007 to support the new album, also announced the band would embark on a tour to begin in the summer. Snakes & Arrows was released May 1, 2007 in North America, where it debuted at No.3 on the Billboard 200 with approximately 93,000 units sold in its first week. It would go on to sell an estimated 611,000 copies worldwide. To coincide with the beginning of Atlantic ocean hurricane season, "Spindrift" was released as the official second radio single on June 1, 2007, while "The Larger Bowl (A Pantoum)" saw single status on June 25, 2007. "The Larger Bowl" peaked within the top 20 of both the Billboard Mainstream Rock and Media Base Mainstream charts, but "Spindrift" failed to appear on any commercial chart. The planned intercontinental tour in support of Snakes & Arrows began on June 13, 2007 in Atlanta, Georgia, coming to a close on October 29, 2007 at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland.

The 2008 portion of the Snakes & Arrows tour began on April 11, 2008 in San Juan, Puerto Rico at José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum, and concluded on July 24, 2008 in Noblesville, Indiana at the Verizon Wireless Music Center. On April 15, 2008, the band released Snakes & Arrows Live, a double live album documenting the first leg of the tour, recorded at the Ahoy arena in Rotterdam, Netherlands on October 16 and 17, 2007 A DVD and Blu-ray recording of the same concerts was released on November 24, 2008. The video also includes four songs added to the 2008 portion of the tour, recorded at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Atlanta, Georgia

As Rush neared the conclusion of the Snakes & Arrows tour, they announced their first appearance on American television in over 30 years. They appeared on The Colbert Report on July 16, 2008, where they were interviewed by Stephen Colbert and performed "Tom Sawyer". Continuing to ride what one film critic called a "pop cultural wave", the band appeared as themselves in the 2009 comedy film I Love You, Man, starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel.

On February 16, 2009, Lifeson remarked the band may begin working on a new album in the Fall of 2009 with American producer Nick Raskulinecz once again producing. In November 2009, Lee, Lifeson and Peart were awarded the International Achievement Award at the annual SOCAN Awards in Toronto] On March 19, 2010, the CBC posted a video interview with Lee and Lifeson where they discussed Rush's induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame on March 28, 2010, at the Toronto Centre for the Arts' George Weston Recital Hall. The band was recognized for the songs "Limelight", "Closer to the Heart", "The Spirit of Radio", "Tom Sawyer" and "Subdivisions". In addition to discussing their induction, Lee and Lifeson touched on future material. During the interview, Lee was quoted as saying, "Just about a month and a half ago we had no songs. And now we've been writing and now we've got about 6 songs that we just love ..." On March 26, 2010, in an interview with The Globe and Mail, Lifeson reconfirmed the band had already written a half-dozen songs and there was the potential for two supporting tours, one planned for Summer 2010 and a more extensive tour planned for Summer 2011. While still uncertain of exactly how and when the new material would be released, at the time he projected a tentative Spring 2011 release date.[65] Soon after, Peart confirmed Nick Raskulinecz had returned as co-producer.

In April 2010, Rush entered Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Tennessee with Raskulinecz to record "Caravan" and "BU2B", two new songs to be featured on the band's studio album Clockwork Angels. Mixing was done by record engineer Richard Chycki at the Sound Kitchen in Franklin, Tennessee. "Caravan" was released June 1 to radio stations and made available for digital download at this time along with "BU2B". On April 8, both the official Rush website and PR Newswire announced the band would embark on the Rush Time Machine Tour, confirming Lifeson's earlier predictions from March. The first leg of the tour began on June 29 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and finished October 17 in Santiago, Chile, at the National Stadium. It featured the album Moving Pictures played in its entirety, as well as "Caravan" and "BU2B". It was suggested Rush would return to the studio after the completion of the Time Machine Tour with plans to release Clockwork Angels in 2011. Nonetheless, Rush announced on November 19, 2010, they would extend the Time Machine Tour. The second leg began on March 30, 2011, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and came to an end on July 2, 2011, in George, Washington On November 8, 2011, the band released Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland, a concert DVD, Blu-ray and double CD documenting the April 15, 2011, concert at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Confirming an announcement from Richard Chycki via Twitter on December 20, Rush entered Revolution Recording studios in Toronto, Ontario, following completion of the tour's second leg, to finalize the recording of Clockwork Angels. The second single, "Headlong Flight", was released April 19, 2012, to radio stations and made available for listening via online streaming. Peart and author Kevin J. Anderson collaborated on a novelization of Clockwork Angels that was released in September 2012.

Clockwork Angels was released in the United States and Canada on June 12, 2012, and its supporting Clockwork Angels Tour began on September 7, 2012. As of August 31, 2011, Rush switched their American distribution from Atlantic Records over to the Warner Brothers majority-owned metal label, Roadrunner Records. Roadrunner is handling American distribution of Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland and Clockwork Angels. Anthem/Universal Music will continue to release their music in Canada. On April 18, 2013, Rush was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

During Rush's European leg of the Clockwork Angels Tour, the June 8, 2013 show at the Sweden Rock Festival was the group's first festival appearance in 30 years. The band's performances on November 25, 2012 in Phoenix, Arizona and November 28, 2012 in Dallas, Texas were recorded to make a live CD/DVD/Blu-ray that was released on November 19, 2013.

On November 18, 2013 guitarist Alex Lifeson said the band has committed to taking a year off, following the completion of the world tour in support of Clockwork Angels. "We've committed to taking about a year off", Lifeson says. "We all agreed when we finished this ('Clockwork Angels') tour (in early August) we were going to take this time off and we weren't going to talk about band stuff or make any plans. We committed to a year, so that's going to take us through to the end of next summer, for sure. That's the minimum. We haven't stopped or quit. Right now we're just relaxing. We're taking it easy and just enjoying our current employment."

In September 2014, the R40 box set was announced to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the release of the band's self-titled debut album. It included five previously released live video albums, as well as various previously unreleased footage from across the band's career. On January 22, 2015, the band officially announced the Rush R40 Tour, celebrating the fortieth anniversary of drummer Neil Peart's membership in the band. The tour started on May 8 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and wrapped up on August 1 at The Forum in Los Angeles

On April 29, 2015, Alex Lifeson stated in an interview R40 might be the final large-scale Rush tour due to his psoriatic arthritis and Peart's chronic tendinitis.However, he did not rule out future projects with the band, including smaller tours and limited performances, and even stated he would like to work on soundtracks with Geddy Lee. On December 7, 2015, Peart stated in an interview he was retiring. Lee clarified the following day Peart had only retired from touring and was not ruling out continuing work with Rush in other capacities. Lifeson confirmed in 2016 the R40 tour was the band's last large-scale tour.

December 7, 2015, Peart stated in an interview he was retiring. The following day, Lee insisted that Peart's remarks had been taken out of context, and suggested he was "simply taking a break". Lifeson confirmed in 2016 the R40 tour was the band's last large-scale tour.

The Rush website, newly redesigned on March 12, 2007 to support the new album, also announced the band would embark on a tour to begin in the summer. Snakes & Arrows was released May 1, 2007 in North America, where it debuted at No.3 on the Billboard 200 with approximately 93,000 units sold in its first week. It would go on to sell an estimated 611,000 copies worldwide. To coincide with the beginning of Atlantic Ocean hurricane season, "Spindrift" was released as the official second radio single on June 1, 2007, while "The Larger Bowl (A Pantoum)" saw single status on June 25, 2007. "The Larger Bowl" peaked within the top 20 of both the Billboard Mainstream Rock and Media Base Mainstream charts, but "Spindrift" failed to appear on any commercial chart. The planned intercontinental tour in support of Snakes & Arrows began on June 13, 2007 in Atlanta, Georgia, coming to a close on October 29, 2007 at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland.

The 2008 portion of the Snakes & Arrows tour began on April 11, 2008 in San Juan, Puerto Rico at José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum, and concluded on July 24, 2008 in Noblesville, Indiana at the Verizon Wireless Music Center. On April 15, 2008, the band released Snakes & Arrows Live, a double live album documenting the first leg of the tour, recorded at the Ahoy arena in Rotterdam, Netherlands on October 16 and 17, 2007. A DVD and Blu-ray recording of the same concerts was released on November 24, 2008. The video also includes four songs added to the 2008 portion of the tour, recorded at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Atlanta, Georgia.

2009–2018: Time Machine Tour, Clockwork Angels, R40–final tour and disbandment

Main articles: Clockwork Angels, Time Machine Tour, and Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland

On February 16, 2009, Lifeson remarked the band may begin working on a new album in the Fall of 2009 with American producer Nick Raskulinecz once again producing. In November 2009, Lee, Lifeson and Peart were awarded the International Achievement Award at the annual SOCAN Awards in Toronto.[5] On March 19, 2010, the CBC posted a video interview with Lee and Lifeson where they discussed Rush's induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame on March 28, 2010, at the Toronto Centre for the Arts' George Weston Recital Hall. The band was recognized for the songs "Limelight", "Closer to the Heart", "The Spirit of Radio", "Tom Sawyer" and "Subdivisions". In addition to discussing their induction, Lee and Lifeson touched on future material, and Lee said, "Just about a month and a half ago we had no songs. And now we've been writing and now we've got about 6 songs that we just love ..." On March 26, 2010, in an interview with The Globe and Mail, Lifeson reconfirmed the band had already written a half-dozen songs and there was the potential for two supporting tours, one planned for Summer 2010 and a more extensive tour planned for Summer 2011. While still uncertain of exactly how and when the new material would be released, at the time he projected a tentative Spring 2011 release date. Soon after, Peart confirmed Nick Raskulinecz had returned as co-producer.

In April 2010, Rush entered Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Tennessee with Raskulinecz to record "Caravan" and "BU2B", two new songs to be featured on the band's studio album Clockwork Angels. Mixing was done by record engineer Richard Chycki at the Sound Kitchen in Franklin, Tennessee. "Caravan" was released June 1 to radio stations and made available for digital download at this time along with "BU2B".[citation needed] Lifeson's predictions from March were confirmed, and the Time Machine Tour's first leg began on June 29 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and finished October 17 in Santiago, Chile, at the National Stadium. It featured the album Moving Pictures played in its entirety, as well as "Caravan" and "BU2B".[citation needed] It was suggested Rush would return to the studio after the completion of the Time Machine Tour with plans to release Clockwork Angels in 2011. Nonetheless, Rush announced on November 19, 2010, they would extend the Time Machine Tour. The second leg began on March 30, 2011, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and came to an end on July 2, 2011, in George, Washington. On November 8, 2011, the band released Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland, a concert DVD, Blu-ray and double CD documenting the April 15, 2011, concert at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. After the tour's second leg was finished, Rush entered Revolution Recording studios in Toronto, Ontario, to finalize the recording of Clockwork Angels. The second single, "Headlong Flight", was released April 19, 2012. Peart and author Kevin J. Anderson collaborated on a novelization of Clockwork Angels that was released in September 2012.

In September 2014, the R40 box set was announced to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the release of the band's self-titled debut album. It included five previously released live video albums, as well as various previously unreleased footage from across the band's career.[78] On January 22, 2015, the band officially announced the Rush R40 Tour, celebrating the fortieth anniversary of drummer Neil Peart's membership in the band. The tour started on May 8 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and wrapped up on August 1 at The Forum in Los Angeles.

On April 29, 2015, Alex Lifeson stated in an interview R40 might be the final large-scale Rush tour due to his psoriatic arthritis and Peart's chronic tendinitis. He noted that it didn't necessarily mean an end to the band, suggesting the possibility of smaller tours and limited performances. He also said he would like to work on soundtracks with Geddy Lee. On December 7, 2015, Peart stated in an interview he was retiring. The following day, Lee insisted that Peart's remarks had been taken out of context, and suggested he was "simply taking a break".] Lifeson confirmed in 2016 the R40 tour was the band's last large-scale tour. The band's latest documentary, Time Stand Still, was announced in November 2016.

On January 19, 2018, Lifeson said: "We have no plans to tour or record anymore. We're basically done. After 41 years, we felt it was enough.

Updates are courtesy of the Rush Wiki Page

Discography:

Rush (1974)

Fly By Night (1975)

Caress of Steel (1975)

2112 (1976)

All The World's A Stage (1976)

A Farewell To Kings (1977)

Archives (1977)

Hemispheres (1978)

Permanent Waves (1980)

Moving Pictures (1981)

Exit... Stage Left (1981)

Signals (1982)

Grace Under Pressure (1984)

Power Windows (1985)

Hold Your Fire (1987)

A Show of Hands (1989)

Presto (1989)

Chronicles (1990)

Roll The Bones (1991)

Counterparts (1993)

Test For Echo (1996)

Retrospective I 1974-1980 (1997)

Retrospective II 1981-1987 (1997)

Different Stages/Live (1998)

Vapor Trails (2002)

Feedback (2004)

Snakes & Arrows (2007)

Clockwork Angels (2012)