Neil Ellwood Peart (pronEng 'p??rt) OC, (born September 12, 1952) is a Canadian musician and author. He is best-known as the drummer and lyricist for the rock band Rush.
Peart grew up in Port Dalhousie, Ontario, Canada (now part of St. Catharines) working the occasional odd job. However, his true ambition was to become a professional musician. During adolescence, he floated from regional band to regional band and dropped out of high school to pursue a career as a full-time drummer. After a discouraging stint in England to concentrate on his music, Peart returned home, where he joined a local Toronto band, Rush, in the summer of 1974.
Early in his career, Peart's performance style was deeply rooted in hard rock. He drew most of his inspiration from drummers such as Keith Moon and John Bonham, players who were at the forefront of the British hard rock scene. As time progressed, however, he began to emulate jazz and big band musicians Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. In 1994, Peart became a friend and pupil of jazz instructor Freddie Gruber. Neil Peart Biography [1] Accessed January 18, 2008 It was during this time that Peart decided to revamp and reinvent his playing style by incorporating jazz and swing components.needed Gruber was also responsible for introducing him to the products of Drum Workshopneeded, the company whose products Peart currently endorses.
Peart has received many awards for his musical performances and is known for his technical proficiency and stamina.Olson, Andrew C."Neil Peart Modern Drummer Awards" - andrewolson.com - Updated 10/1/06 - Accessed July 18, 2007
In addition to being a musician, Peart is also a prolific writer, having published several memoirs about his travels
. Peart is also Rush's primary lyricist. In writing lyrics for Rush, Peart addresses universal themes and diverse subject matter including science fiction, fantasy, and philosophy, as well as secular, humanitarian and libertarian themes. All four of his books are travel-based non-fiction, though they diverge into his life and these subjects as well.
Peart currently resides in Santa Monica, California with his wife, photographer Carrie Nuttall, but also has a home in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec and spends time in Toronto for recording purposes. On August 12, 2009 Nuttall gave birth to a daughter, Olivia Louise Peart.
Life and career
Early life
Peart was born on his family's farm in Hagersville, on the outskirts of Hamilton. The first child of four, his brother Danny and sisters Judy and Nancy were born after the family moved to St. Catharines when Peart was two. At this time his father became parts manager for Dalziel Equipment, a farm machinery supplier. In 1956 the family moved to the Port Dalhousie area of the town. Peart attended Gracefield School, and describes his childhood as happy and says he experienced a warm family life. By early adolescence he became interested in music and acquired a transistor radio, which he would use to tune into pop music stations broadcasting from Toronto, Hamilton, Welland and Buffalo.
His first exposure to musical training came in the form of piano lessons, which he later said in his instructional video A Work in Progress did not have much impact on him. He had a penchant for drumming on various objects around the house with a pair of chopsticks, so for his 13th birthday, his parents bought him a pair of drum sticks, a practice pad and some lessons, with the promise that if he stuck with it for a year, they would buy him a kit.
His parents bought him a drum kit for his 14th birthday and he began taking lessons from Don George at the Peninsula Conservatory of Music. His stage debut took place that year at the school's Christmas pageant in St. Johns Anglican Church Hall in Port Dalhousie. His next appearance was at Lakeport High School with his first group, The Eternal Triangle. This performance contained an original number entitled "LSD Forever". At this show he performed his first solo.
Peart got a job in Lakeside Park, a fairground on the shores of Lake Ontario, which later inspired a song of the same name on the Rush album Caress of Steel. He worked on the Bubble Game and Ball Toss, but his tendency to take it easy when business was slack resulted in his termination. By his late teens, Peart had played in local bands such as Mumblin’ Sumpthin’, the Majority, and JR Flood. These bands practiced in basement recreation rooms and garages and played church halls, high schools and roller rinks in towns across Southern Ontario such as Mitchell, Seaforth, and Elmira. They also played in the northern Ontario city of Timmins. Tuesday nights were filled with jam sessions at the Niagara Theatre Centre. Peart, Neil. with Brian Collins editor ''"A Port boy's story" parts 1 & 2 - St. Catharines Standard - (c/o oocities.com) - June 24/25, 1994 - Accessed August 9, 2007
Career before joining Rush
At eighteen years of age, after struggling to achieve success as a drummer in Canada, Peart traveled to London hoping to further his career as a professional musician. Despite playing in several bands and picking up occasional session work, he was forced to support himself by selling trinkets to tourists in a souvenir shop called The Great Frog on Carnaby Street.
While in London he came across the writings of novelist and objectivist Ayn Rand. Rand's writings became a significant philosophical influence on Peart, as he found many of her treatises to individualism and Objectivism inspiring.
Copyright Citations
This article is licensed under the GNU License
Click here for original article: Neil Peart
![- RUSH: Snakes and Arrows Live [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51G0qRi6OuL._SL75_.jpg)
