Rush Tragedy - Andrew MacNaughtan Dead of Heart Attack at 47

We are saddened to pass along the tragic news that Rush's long time friend and photographer, Andrew MacNaughtan, passed away of an apparent heart attack yesterday in Los Angeles at the age of 47.  He will be missed! 

"We're deeply shocked and heartbroken to learn of the sudden passing of our close friend and long-time photographer, Andrew MacNaughtan. He was a sweet person and a very talented artist. Words cannot describe how much he will be missed. – Geddy, Alex & Neil" - Rush.com, January 26, 2012

Here is a portion of tonight's story from the Toronto Star:

"Toronto photographer Andrew MacNaughtan, longtime documenter of Rush’s exploits and the man behind dozens of iconic portraits of Canadian celebrities, passed away suddenly in Los Angeles on Wednesday.  MacNaughtan, in his mid-40s, reportedly suffered a heart attack while in California shooting his old friends, Rush....MacNaughtan’s sharply designed photographs, familiar to most Canadians from magazines and album covers even if they never knew his name, constitute a veritable Who’s Who of CanCon star power. He shot everyone from Bryan Adams, Celine Dion and the Tragically Hip to Peter Mansbridge, Margaret Atwood and the Trailer Park Boys during his career. A three-time Juno winner for album design, he also directed the occasional music video for such artists as Great Big Sea and Michael Bublé. (He won a fourth Juno for Music DVD of the Year for Rush in Rio.)   MacNaughtan’s most recent work was nevertheless something of a departure. He published a collection of photographs taken during his travels in Kenya and Tanzania [in November 2010] entitled Grace: Africa in Photographs. Proceeds from the book went to Art Gives Hope, a charity MacNaughtan founded in 2006." - Toronto Star, January 26, 2012

Andrew MacNaughtan started his career from the most auspicious of beginnings.  A huge Rush fan, he knocked on Geddy Lee's front door at the age of 17 and asked for a autograph!  Andrew also started his own Rush fan club, and through Howard Ungerleider he submitted to the band live photos he had taken.  The band loved them and they appeared in the Grace Under Pressure tour book.  That led to a full time gig shooting the Power Windows tour, and it wasn't long before he was shooting album covers for other artists.  His first studio photos of Rush appeared in the Presto album jacket; he is responsible for suggesting to Geddy that he wear his glasses for the photo shoot.  Andrew discussed how he got involved with the band in an interview with The Spirit of Rush fanzine in 1991 which you can read here.  More recently, to promote Rush In Rio Andrew was interviewed in 2003 by Brad Parmerter for FYE.com, which you can read here.

Neil Peart has written a memorial for Andrew MacNaughtan at NeilPeart.net.  Neil starts at the beginning of their relationship, remember how Andrew's live photos of Rush had caught his eye ("they were more vivid, somehow—highlighting both the drama of the rock stage and the personalities of the players"), through the years when Andrew was with the band as both personal tour assistant and photographer ("As for Andrew’s own nicknames, Alex, Geddy, and I...finally settled on 'Zulu.' Perhaps because he was the 'anti-Zulu.'...another of Andrew’s self-confessed qualities was his extreme 'whiteness.' I used to joke that making dinner for him was always easy: meat, potatoes, and over-cooked vegetables"), through the later years including introducing Neil to his wife Carrie. 

 Related News

• Andrew MacNaughtan, Photographer, Dies On Rush Assignment - Toronto Star, January 26, 2012
• Rock Photographer Dies - Video report at CBC.ca, January 27, 2012
• Andrew MacNaughtan, Award-Winning Rock Photographer, Dies - Billboard, January 27, 2012
• Remembering Andrew -  NeilPeart.net, January 30, 2012
• Andrew MacNaughtan Obituary - Globe and Mail, January 30, 2012