Rush has been churning out hits since 1968, and over four decades later they’re still going strong. They’ve working on a new album and they’re going on tour. The Time Machine Tour will feature new material as well as the album Moving Pictures in its entirety. Buzz is already high and tickets are sure to go fast, so be sure to score your Rush tickets today!
Rush debuted in 1974 with a self titled album that soon became the biggest selling debut LP of any Canadian band. Lead guitarist and vocalist Geddy Lee (born with the name Gary Lee Weinrib) is joined by Neil Peart on drums and Alex Lifeson on guitar and backup vocals. All three members of the band call Canada home.
As they quickly gained popularity in the US and Canada their achievements were recognized and they won the Juno award in 1975 for 'Most Promising Group of the Year'. Rush built a substantial fan group mostly through touring across North America, sometimes doing more than 200 shows a year.
But they were not only concentrating on the touring circuit. In both 1976 and 1977 Rush released chart topping albums. 2112, their first million selling album, also gained them a larger fan base in the US. Nations across the world began noticing this up and coming rock band when they released A Farewell to Kings in 1977, which also featured their first internationally charted single, Closer to the Heart. Rush's international prominence continued to grow as the years passed, as is evident in the Sounds and Melody Maker Polls in Britain where, in 1980, Rush placed in the top ten of every applicable category.
Rush's popularity in Britain exploded and, in 1983, they sold so many tickets for their U.K. tour that they filled the Wembley Arena for four consecutive nights. Popularity in the US mirrored that of the Brits when Rush tickets sold out for five nights at New York's Radio City Music Hall. Rush was the first rock act of its kind to play the prestigious venue.
In April of 1989 Rush accomplished another first for a Canadian band when its video A Show of Hands hit number three on Billboard's Top Music Videos' and Top Videocassette Sales Chart. The video achieved platinum status in the US and Canada. In 1990 Rush finally received recognition in its home country when Canada named it the Group of the Decade for the 1980s. In the same year Rush also won the Mayor's Award at the Toronto Music Awards.
The band kept pumping out the hits into the early 90s. They won the Juno Award again in 1991 for 'Best Hard Rock/Metal Album of the Year'. Rush was also honored in 1992 with the Harold Moon Award from the Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada. Rush also has two Grammy nominations under its belt for YYZ and Where's My Thing. The awards kept on coming in 1993 when Rush received the Toronto Arts Award and the Harvard National Lampoon award for Group of the Millennium. The same year the band also tied for third place with KISS for the most gold status albums; they both have 21. In 1994 Rush joined Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Anne Murray in the Juno Hall of Fame. And with the turn of the new century, Rush's accomplishments were praised once more by their home country when JAM!'s online poll named them the 'Best Canadian Musicians of All Time'.
