John Rutsey, Rush's First Drummer, Dies

(May 14) - Rock drummer John Rutsey, who co-founded progressive rock band Rush but left because of health reasons after recording the group's debut album, died over the weekend at age 55, their management company said.
The statement, issued to Q107 in the band's native Toronto, does not mention a cause of death, but Rutsey had suffered from diabetes since his youth. He formed Rush along with bassist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson in 1968. Before long, the band gained a sizeable following in Canada before cutting their self-titled debut for Moon Records in 1974.The album contained the band's first hit single, the blue collar anthem "Working Man." The song's driving riff pays tribute to Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and contains one of Lifeson's more memorable solos. Guitar World magazine voted it the 94th best guitar solo ever.

Neil Peart replaced Rutsey soon after his departure, marking the band's transition from mainstream hard rockers to progressive torchbearers.Little is known of Rutsey's whereabouts since leaving the group.Q107 quotes a 1989 interview where Lifeson remarked that Rutsey "gave up playing [drums] shortly after he left the band and went into bodybuilding." He added his ex-bandmate "competed on an amateur level for a while, doing that for a few years,and has sort of been in and out of that, but he still works out."


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