Legendary rock musician Geddy Lee opens up about his life and career in his brand new memoir called “My Effin’ Life”, which was published back in Nov. 2023. 

This memoir was very mind blowing to read. It was very interesting learning about his childhood, his family’s history, his music inspirations and the history of his band Rush. 

Lee was originally born as Gershon Eliezer Weinrib and is the son of Jewish holocaust survivors. He was named after his maternal grandfather, who was murdered by the Nazis.  

In the third chapter of his book, he shares the entire story of how both of his parents and other members on both sides of the family were captured by the Nazis and were placed in different concentration camps, including the infamous camp in Auschwitz.  

It was very touching learning about his family’s life during the Holocaust because it was the most tragic experience they ever went through. 

Lee was born and raised in Toronto, Canada and went through many obstacles in his early life like included being bullied and losing his dad at the age of 12. 

Despite his family’s tragic history and the loss of his dad, Lee would quickly discover music and make the decision to pursue a career as a rock musician. 

He would also meet Nancy, his wife of 50 years. Then he met his fellow bandmates Alex Lifeson and original drummer John Rutsey in junior high. The trio quickly joined together and formed their own band called Rush after dropping out of high school. 

It was very surprising learning that Lee and Lifeson grew up together because their love for music is what brought them together and is the reason why they remained best friends for over 50 years. 

In the book, Lee shared all the stories of how Rush would start recording their music and get their first album published in 1974. They would also get their big start by becoming an opening act for the band KISS and would go on tour with them. 

After going through some control issues with their original drummer, John decided to leave the band. Quickly after, Lee and Lifeson discovered Neil Peart, who became the new and permanent drummer until he unfortunately died in 2020 after a battle with brain cancer. 

Rush would go on to write some of the most recognizable songs like “Tom Sawyer”, “Limelight”, “Working Man”, and many other hit songs. They sold millions of albums worldwide and toured all over the world.  

Later on in their career, the band received the biggest honor of being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013, which proved how successful they became. 

One of the most memorable moments in the book was learning how Geddy found the will to stay away from the heavy drug crowds back in the 70s. He never suffered from serious addiction problems, but only engaged in pot smoking when he was younger. 

He realized that drugs made him feel very lousy and was causing him nosebleeds. He also saw how people were losing their lives at young ages because of how addictive the drug scene was back then. 

That is when he decided to make a commitment to never get involved with drugs again, which is very inspiring. He realized that he did not want to lose his life at a young age like so many people have in the past.  

The other reason why he chose to stay away from drugs is because he did not want to disappoint the fans by performing on stage under the influence, which proves just how much he cares about the fans. 

Even though Geddy came from a challenging background, he accomplished his dream of becoming the most recognized rock musician in history. He is not only a successful musician, but an inspiration to his family, friends, and fans. Overall, this memoir was one of the most well written and detailed stories to ever be published. 

Overall, I personally give this story five out of five stars.