Geddy Lee is a member of the band Rush. He is a lead vocalist and the bassist of the band since 1968. He has accomplished success alongside the band. Rush sold over 50 million units worldwide and is considered to be one of the greatest rock bands of all time.
With such success, there is no denying that Geddy Lee has managed to earn a hefty amount of money. So, what’s his net worth? and how did he end up being in the Rush? Let’s take a peek at his timeline.
When Did Geddy Lee Start To Learn Music?
Gary Lee Weinrib was born in a Jewish family with two siblings. He was first born in North York, Ontario on July 29th of 1953, then their family emigrated to Canada after the war.
His father was a talented musician, however, he didn’t get to learn much about music from him since he died early. He and his siblings were raised by his mother.
Lee was deeply moved by his father’s passing and carried the legacy of his dad by falling in love with music. When Lee was in high school, he created a band with his friends started performing gigs, and dropped out of school.
Of course, this decision did upset his mother “All the shit I put her through“, he says, “on top of the fact that she just lost her husband. I felt like I had to make sure that it was worth it. I wanted to show her that I was a professional, that I was working hard, and wasn’t just a fuckin’ lunatic,” said Geddy Lee.
Seeing how serious and dedicated Lee was, she believed that he had something to prove and trusted him with the process.
He earned the name “Geddy” from his mother because of her Eastern European accent. Her mother used to call him Garry but because of the accent it sounded similar to “Geddy.” After overhearing this, his friends even started to call him by his name. Thus, he earned himself the name “Geddy.”
Lee has been fond of playing music since he was very young. He had already learned to play instruments such as drums, trumpets, clarinet, and many others, but the one that caught his attention the most was the bass guitar.
Geddy was influenced by musicians such as John Entwistle, Jeff Beck, and Jack Bruce. After hearing such artists play bass, he embarked on his path to be a musician.
“I was mainly interested in early British progressive rock“, he said “That’s how I learned to play bass, emulating Jack Bruce and people like that.”
How Did Geddy Lee Join Rush?
Geddy Lee joined the band Rush in 1968 with his friends Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart. The trio played at numerous venues and even performed at coffeehouses, high school dance parties, and many more.
For a year they played at small venues like that but by the year 1971, they were now performing their original songs at clubs and bars.
Although the band was slowly getting recognized by the locals, they certainly were short on money, so they had to stick with their full-time jobs until the early 70s.
Rusg became one of the well-known bands in the early 70s and they started to perform concerts with popular bands such as Kiss, Blue Oyster Cult, and Aerosmith.
They came with their debut album “Rush” in 1974. The album didn’t do as much as they expected and it was certainly a faik for the group. They released their second album “Fly By Night” in 1975, the following year they released another album “Caress of Steel.”
With all the struggles, they still filed to come to mainstream music, but they never gave up. In 1976, Rush came up with “2112” which became their first certified platinum in Canada.
There’s no denying that Lee’s playing style and vocals played an essential role in Rush’s rise in the mainstream of music. By the early 80s, Rush had become one of the most popular rock bands in the world.
Whenever there was news of them touring, the tickets would sell immediately, and Greedy Lee was known for his energetic activities on the stage. Lee was even portrayed as a prodigy and role model by music industry writer Christopher Buttner.
Geddy Lee’s Side Projects and Solo Album
Geddy Lee has only released one solo album to this date. His “My Favorite Headache” was released on November 14, 2000, when Rush was on a break due to the demise of Neil Peart’s wife and daughter.
Although Rush has been a prominent project of artist, he has also been on many side projects in 1981, Lee was featured as a guest for the song “Take Off” which became the highest-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100 for Lee.
The following year, Lee produced the first album for the new wave band “Boys Brigade.” Lee has collaborated with many renowned artists and currently, on December 5, 2023, Paramount+ released a series on the artist “Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too?”
Geddy Lee’s Collection
It’s no secret that popular artists always have some collectible items with them whether they’re cars, bikes, or guitars. In the case of Lee, he was fond of collecting wristwatches.
If we take a peek at Lee’s collection, he has a variety of watches, at least 40 known pieces. From rare Rolexes. Heuers, Patek Calatrava, and Tudors, he has everything.
Lee even stated that his favorite watch was the Heuer Carerra from the 1970s. Some of these watches can be only found in Canada because they were never exported.
Lee was also fond of wines, and his collection had over 5,000 bottles. Lee even stated that he made his wine cellar in the 80s for his collection. He even visits France once a year in search of something new to his collection.
His collection doesn’t end here, Lee is also a baseball fan and loves collections from the sports. He has collected various baseball memorabilia. He even donated one of his collection to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
When we take a peek at his collection he has balls signed by every member of the 3,000 hit club and from popular players such as Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, and Joe Jackson.
What’s Geddy Lee’s Net Worth?
Geddy Lee was never successful from the beginning but he had a passion for music since he was only 10 years old. From learning instruments at 14 and being a member of the band when he was 15, Giddy’s career was already set to go.
Geddy Lee’s technique of playing instruments has always been inspiring to the younger generation and even to popular bands such as Steve Harris, Cliff Burton, John Myung, Tim Commerford from Rage Against the Machine, and many other legendary artists.
Although Rush failed with their few albums in the beginning, they finally made it to the mainstream. They became one of the biggest bands in the world by the 90s. Everyone recognized the unique style of Geddy and he was even inducted into the Juno Hall of Fame.
Geddy Lee was also the winner of Best Rock Bass of Guitar Player magazine, not only once but six times. Besides just sticking with his musical career, Geddy has also appeared on TV such as the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, in their eighth season’s episode “P.S I Love You.”
There’s no denying that Lee earned an enormous amount of success in his life. With all these years of hard work, his net worth must be hefty right? You’re damn right. His estimated net worth is over $50 million, making him the richest member of the band.