Neil Peart's sister recalls how family members broke the news of the late Rush drummer's death

Nancy Peart Burkholder, one of Rush drummer Neil Peart's two sisters, has shared her memories of her brother's passing. Peart died on January 7, 2020, following a three and a half year battle with brain cancer (Glioblastoma), and his death was announced three days later, on January 10,m 2020.

In conversation with podcaster Kelly Barrett, Burkholder recalls how family members had to keep the news of her brother's death a secret for those three days, until the official announcement was made via Rush's website and social media channels.

“We had three and a half years to prepare, so we knew it was coming,” she says. “And then once it happened, we had that week of radio silence where we couldn’t tell anybody. And then we got - I think we had 10 minutes’ notice before it was going live to the world. So we had 10 minutes to tell everyone that we hadn’t told in three and a half years that, ‘Sorry, we lied. Everything’s not okay.’ So, yeah, it was a really hard - that week was the hardest week that we went through because we knew and couldn’t share it.”

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