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Although it's widely agreed that all three
members of Rush are incredibly talented at their respective instruments,
guitarist Alex Lifeson tends to be the most underrated of the
bunch. Born Alex Zivojinovich on August 27, 1953 in Fernie, Canada
(his parents were Yugoslavian immigrants), Lifeson grew up in
Toronto, and received his first guitar as a Christmas gift when
he was 13. Soonafter, Lifeson discovered rock n' roll (via the
usual suspects – Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, etc.), and began
jamming with local drummer John Rutsey. By the late ‘60s, bassist/vocalist
Geddy Lee had signed on with the group, as the trio focused primarily
on perfecting cover songs of Cream, Led Zeppelin, and the Who,
among others. The group slowly built a regional following, and
eventually started penning their own original songs (which were
initially highly derivative of the aforementioned bands they had
been long covering – especially Zeppelin). The trio eventually
signed a recording contract with Polygram, who reissued their
self-titled debut in 1973 (which had previously been released
independently). Rutsey left the group soonafter, and the missing
piece to the group's puzzle came in the form of his replacement,
Neil Peart, who besides being an exceptional drummer, was also
a quite gifted lyricist.
It took a few releases for the new line-up to truly gel, but with
1976's breakthrough release, 2112, Rush had begun a journey that
would eventually establish them as one of hard rock's most popular
and successful acts in the whole world. During this string of
classic albums, Lifeson's fine guitar chops could be sampled on
a variety of standout tracks, especially “Xanadu" (1977's A Farewell
to Kings), “La Villa Strangiato" (1978's Hemispheres), “Freewill"
(1980's Permanent Waves), and “YYZ" (1981's Moving Pictures).
Rush continued to tour the world and issue hit albums throughout
the ‘80s, but Lifeson's guitar work took a backseat, due to the
group's experiments with more textured, synthesizer-based sounds.
By the ‘90s, Rush's desire to return to more straight ahead, hard
rock-based material had returned, as Lifeson's guitar work once
more became more prominent, especially on such releases as 1993's
Counterparts.
During the mid ‘90s, Lifeson participated in one-off side project,
Victor, a group that issued a self-titled debut in 1996, and included
appearances by Primus bassist Les Claypool and I Mother Earth
vocalist Edwin. In addition to his Rush duties, Lifeson has guested
on recordings by other artists, including Platinum Blonde (1985's
Alien Shores), Tom Cochrane (1995's Ragged Ass Road), and 3 Doors
Down (the 2001 ‘bonus CD' reissue of Better Life). Besides music,
Lifeson also owns a small invention company, The Omega Concern,
and is one of the owners of a Toronto restaurant, The Orbit Room.
This bio courtesy www.allmusic.com
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