Gordon Downie - Career

Career

Gordon Downie (known widely as Gord Downie) grew up in Kingston, Ontario, where he befriended the musicians that would become The Tragically Hip while attending the downtown Kingston high school, Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute. Gordon Downie formed The Tragically Hip with Rob Baker, Johnny Fay, Davis Manning, and Gord Sinclair in 1983. Saxophone player Davis Manning left the band and guitarist Paul Langlois joined in 1986. Originally, the band started off playing covers songs in bars and quickly became famous once MCA Records president, Bruce Dickinson, saw them performing at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto and offered them a record deal. This much-loved Canadian band has won over many fans through the incorporation of Downie’s stories and myths about life in Canada in his songs, and his wild antics and rantings on stage. In 2001, Downie diverted from the band and started his solo career with the release of his album Coke Machine Glow. Along with this release he published his first poetry and prose book named after his solo album. He went on to create a second solo albums, Battle of the Nudes in 2003. After making three more albums with The Tragically Hip, made The Grand Bounce in 2010, which is credited to Gord Downie and the Country of Miracles. The Country of Miracles have backed Downie for each of his solo albums, but this is the first album to be credited this way. This is also the first album to have Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla involved in the production.