A year after the tragic death of legendary Rush Neil Peart , family and friends of the musician gathered for an interview with Rolling Stone to remember and honor his legacy and persistent battle against cancer.
In 2016, Peart was diagnosed with gioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer that gave the musician a prognosis of 12-18 months to live. His wife, Carrie Nuttal , stated that she noticed a change in her husband's behavior, that he couldn't complete his word searches or speak properly; however, she initially assumed Neil was just depressed.
Despite the tragic ultimatum, friends say that Peart faced his final years with "strength and stoicism," living each day as if it were his last, riding his motorcycle or spending time with his daughter, Olivia , since Rush's final tour in 2015. "At night, he would come home and cook dinner for the family. He was living his life exactly the way he wanted for the first time in decades, probably. It was very sweet, a happy time… then the Gods, or whatever you want to call them, took it all away."
With that, Peart asked his friends and bandmates to keep his illness a secret, so it wouldn't become a topic of discussion. “He just wanted to be in control of it. The last thing in the world he wanted was people on his sidewalk singing 'Closer to the Heart' or something like that. That was a huge fear of his. He didn't want that kind of attention. And it was definitely difficult to lie to people or omit or deflect in any way. It was very difficult.”
“He didn’t want to spend his remaining time talking about bullshit like that,” says Geddy Lee . “He wanted to have fun with us. And he wanted to talk about real things until the end.”
Close friends also say that one of the artist's hobbies was revisiting memories of Rush, as Lifeson recounts. “My guess is that he was just revisiting some of the things he had achieved, musically speaking, anyway. And I think he was a little surprised at how well it all worked out. I guess that happens, you kind of forget. It was interesting to see him smile and feel so good about it. And when he could still write to us, he would write about how he was revisiting some of our old songs and how they still stood out to him.”
Peart ended up surprising all predictions and living three years longer than his initial diagnosis, in addition to remaining lucid until weeks before his death. Furthermore, at his birthday party in September 2019, friends say that he was the one who led the party and continued to ride his motorcycle with the help of his friends.
Finally, Peart's legacy was among the musician's topics of reflection, and even though he hadn't played drums after Rush's final tour, he encouraged his daughter Olivia to start playing, setting up a drum kit for her in the living room, just as his parents had done for him. “Neil immediately said, ‘She’s got it,’” Nuttal recalls. “She really had what he had. And of course, that encouraged him… he made a great effort to ensure she wasn’t intimidated by him. He didn’t just sit there staring at her during her lessons. He was out of it, but he was listening.”
Read the full, exciting interview for Rolling Stone .
