In a new interview with Etcetera With Kelly Barrett, Rush drum legend Neil Peart's sister, Nancy Peart Burkholder, discussed his passing on January 7, 2020 after a three-year battle with brain cancer.
Check out the complete chat about Peart's legacy below.
Nancy: "We had three and a half years to prepare, so we knew it was coming. And then once it happened, we had that week of radio silence where we couldn't tell anybody. I think we had 10 minutes notice before it was going live to the world. So we had 10 minutes to tell everyone that we hadn't told in three and a half years that, 'Sorry, we lied. Everything's not okay.' So, yeah, it was a really hard. That week was the hardest week that we went through because we knew and couldn't share it."
"It was a very surreal week, but that 10 minutes was... I can't even remember who I called in that 10 minutes. I had to message them all at once because we knew we had 10 minutes, and then just as one of my best friends got my message, it was on the radio. And then all of them, of course, were getting called because their families all know the connection and that - the same thing - had 45 years with him, technically. It was a shock that went around the world, that's for sure."
On April 28, UMe/Mercury and Anthem Records continued the comprehensive Rush 40th anniversary album series with new and expanded editions of the band’s decade-defining 1982 release, Signals, an album that signified how the band was in no way detached and subdivided from the ever-shifting 1980s musical landscape.
Signals-40th Anniversary is available to fans in three distinct configurations, including the (1) Super Deluxe Edition, (2) one-LP Picture Disc Edition, and (3) Dolby Atmos Digital Edition. There is also be a limited edition Super Deluxe box featuring eight lithographs of Neil Peart’s original hand-drawn lyrics for each song on Signals only available through the official Rush online store.
All configurations can be ordered and saved, here.
Signals, Rush’s ninth studio album, was originally released in September 1982, and its technology-embracing riffs and rhythms, continued the forward-thinking trajectory of the acclaimed Canadian trio as it continued to chart the demands of a new decade. The album’s eight songs built upon Rush’s penchant for adapting to the flow of the times without compromising its flair for melding long-established progressive roots with radio-friendly song arrangements. Signals, co-produced by Rush with longtime band confidant Terry Brown and engineered by Paul Northfield, was the third of numerous Rush recording sessions held at Le Studio in Morin-Heights, Quebec. The band’s synergistic recording process at Le Studio had been well-established during sessions for the aforementioned Moving Pictures, as well as the sessions for that album’s predecessor, January 1980’s Permanent Waves.
