![]() ![]() ![]() His first act was to go back into the recording studio and record an album. To be struck by three-and the third being your own mortality-is arguably inhumane. Several months earlier Downie’s marriage had fallen apart. Just a few days before his diagnosis, Downie grieved the passing of his father. Subsequently, he and his brother initiated the Gord Downie | Chanie Wenjack fund to support the reconciliation process through awareness, education, and action.īut there are two more examples to highlight, two more situations where we might learn to never give up on the continued refinement of our purpose. It is but another example of his selflessness and his commitment to purpose. And so, the Secret Path came out a year after he was informed of his terminal condition. More important to him was the symbolism and attention that the project might garner if released on the 50th anniversary of Wenjack’s death. Unsure if he would still be alive, it didn’t matter that he might not be around for the release of the Secret Path project. ![]() He remained steadfast to redefine his purpose continually. That date was October 22, 1966, and thus the album-even though completed two years earlier-would not release until October 18, 2016.ĭownie demonstrated an uncanny ability. It remained locked in the vault, however, as Downie insisted the album release on the 50th anniversary of Wenjack’s death. Over the following few years, Downie wrote ten poems and eventually recorded music to those poems under the title, The Secret Path. His purpose was beginning to augment yet again. The article struck a nerve with the younger Downie. Written in 1967, the piece described the death of a 12-year-old boy, Chanie Wenjack, in his attempt to escape from one of Canada’s notorious residential schools for First Nations children. In 2012 before the cancer diagnosis, Downie’s older brother Mike sent him an article from Maclean's magazine. His newfound purpose was just getting started. Sure, Downie continued to make music with his Hip bandmates, but the ancillary projects were unrelenting. The band's 2012 album, "Now for Plan A," was lyrically influenced by Downie's wife and her successful battle with breast cancer.ĭownie also produced three solo albums since 2001, as well as a collaboration with fellow Canadian indie darlings The Sadies.Several more alternative albums were released over the following years. They have received numerous Canadian music awards, including 14 Juno awards, the equivalent of the Grammy in Canada. Since then they have released 14 studio albums, two live albums, one EP and 54 singles. Their first self-titled EP was released in 1987 and their breakthrough debut full-length album, "Up to Here," was released in 1989. While at university, he met Paul Langlois, Rob Baker, Gord Sinclair and Johnny Fray, and they formed The Tragically Hip, which started out as a cover band. He said his "Secret Path" project was aimed at Canada's decades-long government policy of requiring aboriginal children to attend residential schools, where physical and sexual abuse was often rampant.īorn in Amherstview, Ontario, Downie said he "always had a keen ear for music" and while all the other kids were spending their allowance on baseball trading cards, he was buying records "from the fathers of rock 'n' roll." Notable deaths in 2017 141 photosĪ few months after that concert, Downie released a solo album with an accompanying graphic novel and animated film inspired by the tragedy of state-funded church schools that Canadian aboriginal children were forced to attend from the 19th century until the 1970s. During his final show, Downie called out to Trudeau, who attended the concert, to help fix problems in Canada's aboriginal communities. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |