Gord Downie
Canadian musician, writer (1964–2017)
Gordon Edgar Downie (February 6, 1964 – October 17, 2017) was a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, musician, writer, poet, and activist. He was the singer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, which he fronted from its formation in 1984 until his death in 2017. He is revered by many as one of the most influential artists in Canada's music history.
Downie released eight solo albums, three posthumously: Coke Machine Glow (2001), Battle of the Nudes (2003), The Grand Bounce (2010), And the Conquering Sun (2014), Secret Path (2016), Introduce Yerself (2017), Away Is Mine (2020), and Lustre Parfait (2023). His first to hit number one was Introduce Yerself, shortly after his death. His family and managers said future releases are planned, including solo material and unreleased work with the Hip.
Early life
Gordon Edgar Downie was born in Amherstview, Ontario, and raised in Kingston, Ontario, along with his brothers Mike and Patrick, and sisters Charlyn and Paula. He was the son of Lorna (Neal) and Edgar Charles Downie, a travelling salesman, later a real estate broker and developer. In Kingston, Downie attended the downtown high school Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute, where other members of the Tragically Hip also attended. In high school, Downie was the front man for a band called the Slinks performing at the KCVI Variety show and rivalling older members Rob Baker and Gord Sinclair's band the Rodents.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Gord Downie” is canadian musician, writer (1964–2017). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Gord, Downie and Canadian, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “canadian musician, writer (1964–2017)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5585076. VIAF identifies the subject as 46693777. The Library of Congress control number is nr2001045123. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1964, 2017, 1984 and 2001.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gord Downie” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.