The Rush singer and bassist reflects on his big year, which included a star-studded book tour, a Paramount+ docuseries and some new solo songs.
As the year comes to a close and we sift through the chart-toppers and breakthroughs of the year, there’s one surprising name that comes up: Geddy Lee.
The bassist and singer isn’t on Billboard year-end charts seven years after his legendary band Rush broke up, but he has spent weeks on another important chart. His HarperCollins memoir My Effin’ Life, released Nov. 14, 2023, is No. 1 in the Canadian bestselling books list and has spent five weeks on the New York Times non-fiction best sellers, where it’s currently No. 10 alongside other big-name memoirists like Britney Spears, Barbra Streisand and the late Matthew Perry.
Written with Daniel Richler, the book has some surprises for even the biggest of Rush super fans. There’s plenty of drugs and rock star shenanigans, but it’s also very poignant. The book starts with an explanation of how Geddy Lee became Geddy Lee, an anglicized and nicknamed moulding of his Jewish birth name Gershon Eliezer Weinrib.
That sets the stage for the book, which includes an early chapter about his parents’ experiences in concentration camps during the Holocaust. That alternates with tales of his life in Toronto as a young Jewish boy discovering rock and continues past the end of Rush and includes new details of the personal and health struggles of drummer/lyricist Neil Peart.
After its release, he took the book on tour throughout the United States, Canada and the U.K. Each show had a different interviewer, some who were known Rush fans and some who revealed their fandom. At different stops, he was questioned by Paul Rudd, Jay Baruchel, Jack Black, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, South Park co-creator Matt Stone, Canadian musician Melissa Auf der Mar and more. At a recent Toronto stop, he reunited with Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson for an on-stage conversation at Massey Hall, where the band first played in 1974
