Rush News

Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant helped save Rush in their darkest hour, says Geddy Lee

Geddy Lee is interviewed in the new issue of Classic Rock magazine, as alluded to in this teaser story from Louder.com:

Following the death of drummer Neil Peart’s 19-year-old daughter Selena in a road accident in August 1997, Rush took an extended hiatus from the music business, with none of the trio - vocalist/bassist Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and Peart - sure whether they’d ever share a stage again.

But speaking in the new issue of Classic Rock magazine, Lee says that a phone call from one of the trio’s long-time heroes, former Led Zeppelin frontman Plant, helped drag the musicians out of the darkness.

“Page & Plant were touring [1998 album] Walking Into Clarksdale and they came to Toronto,” recalls Lee, referencing the Zeppelin duo’s July 4, 1998 appearance at the city’s Molson Amphitheatre. “Someone kept calling our office saying they were Robert Plant and they needed to speak to me. No one believed it, but turns out it was him.”

“We were on hiatus after Selena [Neil’s Peart’s daughter] had passed away and we were not in a good place. I called Robert back, and he wanted us to come to the show, and I was pretty down in the dumps at that point. And he said, ‘No, come to the show, we’ll talk.’ He understood what was going on with the band. I remember him saying: ‘You’ve got to re-join life, and sooner is better than later. So get your ass down here.’ So I called Alex up and said we’re going to see Page & Plant.”

"RUSH - A Visual Time Capsule: Moving Pictures-Permanent Waves-Hemispheres" now available

Photographer Bill O’Leary is back with his fourth photo book overall, RUSH - A Visual Time Capsule: Moving Pictures-Permanent Waves-Hemispheres. Featuring images – many previously unseen – of the trio in concert from what many consider their peak artistic period (1979-1981), the book perfectly captures the visual aspect of this era of Rush, in which they stormed the charts and headlined arenas throughout the world. The book also features a foreword by renowned rock journalist/author, Greg Prato.  Click here to order.