Sad news on the Canadian music scene. Early this morning Canadian iconic rock band The Tragically Hip announced on their website that singer Gord Downie has terminal brain cancer. The diagnosis came in December. Here is the official announcement:
An Important Message From The Band:
Hello friends. We have some very tough news to share with you today, and we wish it wasn’t so.
A few months ago, in December, Gord Downie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.
Since then, obviously, he’s endured a lot of difficult times, and he has been fighting hard. In privacy along with his family, and through all of this, we’ve been standing by him.
So after 30-some years together as The Tragically Hip, thousands of shows, and hundreds of tours…
We’ve decided to do another one.
This feels like the right thing to do now, for Gord, and for all of us.
What we in The Hip receive, each time we play together, is a connection; with each other; with music and it’s magic; and during the shows, a special connection with all of you, our incredible fans.
So, we’re going to dig deep, and try to make this our best tour yet.
We hope you can come out and join us this summer – details and dates will be coming this week.
And we sincerely thank all of you, for your continued love and support,
Paul, GordD, Johnny, Rob, GordS
The Tragically Hip, from Kingston, Ontario, have 14 Juno Awards and is set to release its 14th studio album, Man Machine Poem, on June 17th. Downie has also released three solo albums – Coke Machine Glow in 2001, Battle of the Nudes in 2003, and The Grand Bounce in 2010 plus an album with The Sadies called And the Conquering Sun (2014).
The Tragically Hip have been inducted to both Canada’s Walk of Fame and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
Downie, 52, and wife Laura Leigh Usher have four children.
