Editing Geddy Lee (section)

==Early life==
He was born Gary Lee Weinrib<ref name=":0">{{cite web |last1=Lee |first1=Geddy |title=Geddy Lee on My Effin' Life, Rush, and the story of Neil Peart's audition |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMUaFy-bJSs&t=574s |via=YouTube |date= November 16, 2023 |access-date=18 November 2023}}</ref> on July 29, 1953, in [[Willowdale, Toronto|Willowdale]], [[Toronto]], to Morris Weinrib (born Moshe Meir Weinrib; 1920–1965) from [[Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski]], [[Poland]]; and Mary "Manya" Rubinstein (born Malka Rubinstein; 1925–2021),<ref name="bpmc">{{cite web |url= https://www.benjaminsparkmemorialchapel.ca/ServiceDetails.aspx?sid=206477&fg=1 |title=Mary Weinrib |author=<!--Not stated--> |website= benjaminsparkmemorialchapel.ca| publisher= Benjamin's Park Memorial Chapel, The Benjamin Group |location= Toronto |access-date=July 11, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite instagram |last=Lee |first=Geddy |user=geddyimages |postid= CQ_TCBxNRBF |date=July 6, 2021 |title='Suddenly she was gone from all the lives she left her mark upon.'<br /><br />Mary (Manya) Weinrib<br />July 16th 1925 – July 2nd 2021<br /><br />Rest In Peace Mom |access-date=July 11, 2021}}</ref> who was also from Poland: born in [[Warsaw]] and later raised in [[:pl:Wierzbnik (Starachowice)|Wierzbnik]].<ref name=Prato /><ref name="ug">{{cite news |author=jomatami |date=February 3, 2019 |title=Geddy Lee Shares His Parents' Holocaust Story, How They Met in Work Camp & How They Survived Auschwitz |url=https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/geddy_lee_shares_his_parents_holocaust_story_how_they_met_in_work_camp__how_they_survived_auschwitz.html |work=[[Ultimate Guitar]] |location=San Francisco |access-date=May 18, 2021}}</ref><ref name="jweekly">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.--> |title=How the Holocaust rocked Rush front man Geddy Lee |url= https://www.jweekly.com/2004/06/25/how-the-holocaust-rocked-rush-front-man-geddy-lee/ |work=[[J. The Jewish News of Northern California]] |location=San Francisco |date=June 25, 2004 |access-date=May 18, 2021}}</ref><ref name="cjnews">{{cite news |last=Benarde |first=Scott R. |date=August 11, 2004 |title=How the Holocaust rocked Rush's Geddy Lee |url= http://www.cjnews.com:80/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7066&Itemid=86 |url-status=dead |work=[[Canadian Jewish News]] |location=Toronto |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080925084930/http://www.cjnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7066&Itemid=86 |archive-date=September 25, 2008 |access-date=May 1, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.--> |date=August 7, 2017 |title=W poszukiwaniu swoich korzeni |trans-title=In search of one's roots |url=https://starachowicka.pl/2017/08/07/w-poszukiwaniu-swoich-korzeni/ |url-status=dead |language=Polish |work=Gazeta Starachowicka |location=[[Starachowice]] |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210518191616/https://www.starachowicka.pl/2017/08/07/w-poszukiwaniu-swoich-korzeni/ |archive-date=May 18, 2021 |access-date=May 18, 2021 |via=[[Wayback Machine]] |quote={{–}} Matka frontmana grupy Geddy Lee, pochodziła z Wierzbnika... |trans-quote={{–}} Mother of the band's frontman Geddy Lee, originated from Wierzbnik...}}</ref> His parents were [[Jews|Jewish]] [[Holocaust survivors]] from [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]] who had survived the [[List of Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland|ghetto]] in [[Starachowice]] (where they met), followed by their imprisonments at [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]] and later [[Dachau concentration camp|Dachau]] and [[Bergen-Belsen concentration camp|Bergen-Belsen]] [[internment|concentration camps]] during [[the Holocaust]] and [[World War II]].<ref name="ug" /><ref name="jweekly" /> They were in their teens when they were initially imprisoned at Auschwitz. "It was kind of surreal pre-teen shit", says Lee, describing how his father bribed guards to bring shoes to his mother. After a period, his mother was transferred to Bergen-Belsen and his father to Dachau. When the war ended four years later, and the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] liberated the camps, Morris set out in search of Manya and found her at a [[Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp]].<ref name="ug" /> They married there and eventually emigrated to Canada.<ref name="rs">{{cite magazine |last=Hiatt |first=Brian |date=November 25, 2015 |title=From Rush With Love |url= https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/rush-neil-peart-geddy-lee-alex-lifeson-59586/ |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |location=New York City |publisher=[[Penske Media Corporation]] |access-date=November 25, 2015}}</ref>

His Jewish name, given at birth, is Gershon Eliezer Weinrib. Lee grew up thinking his middle name was "Lorne".  As a teenager, he saw a copy of his birth certificate and discovered that his middle name was "Lee".<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMUaFy-bJSs&t=574s |title=Geddy Lee on My Effin’ Life, Rush, and the story of Neil Peart’s audition |date=2023-11-16 |last=Q with Tom Power |access-date=2025-05-15 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

Lee's father died young, which forced Lee's mother to work to support their three children by running the [[Newmarket, Ontario]], variety store that her husband had owned and managed.<ref name="bpmc" /><ref name="rs" /> Lee has suggested that his father's death was probably a factor in his becoming a musician: "It was a terrible blow that I lost him, but the course of my life changed because my mother couldn't control us." He has said that losing his father at such an early age made him aware of how "quickly life can disappear", which inspired him from then on to get the most out of his life and music.<ref>{{cite web| url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVR6ZvWkL5Q;t=47s |title= The Story of Geddy Lee| publisher= Banger Films |place= Canada |format= video | date= 2015| access-date= | via= YouTube}}</ref>

Lee turned his basement into practice space for a band he formed with high school friends. After the band began earning income from small performances at high school shows or other events, he decided to drop out of high school and play rock and roll professionally. His mother was devastated when he gave her the news. 
{{quote|All the shit I put her through, on top of the fact that she just lost her husband. I felt like I had to make sure that it was worth it. I wanted to show her that I was a professional, that I was working hard, and wasn't just a fuckin' lunatic.<ref name="rs" />}}

''[[J. The Jewish News of Northern California|Jweekly]]'' featured Lee's reflections on his mother's experiences as a refugee and on his own Jewish heritage.<ref name="jweekly" /> Lee's name, ''Geddy'', was derived from his mother's Polish-accented pronunciation of his given first name, ''Gary''.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Hoffman |first1=Jordan |title=Locked down? Open up to… Rush's Jewish frontman Geddy Lee |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/locked-down-open-up-to-rushs-jewish-frontman-geddy-lee/ |website=[[The Times of Israel]] |access-date=20 October 2020}}</ref> This was picked up by his friends in school, leading Lee to adopt it as his stage name (excising his surname, leaving his middle name as his surname) and later his legal name,<ref name=Buttner>{{Cite web| last= Buttner|first=Christopher|title=Geddy Lee: The Reluctant Rockstar| url= http://www.prthatrocks.com/interviews/geddy.html |website= prthatrocks.com |publisher= Bass Frontiers Magazine |date= November 1996| access-date=April 26, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120205204217/http://www.prthatrocks.com/interviews/geddy.html|archive-date= February 5, 2012| url-status= dead}}</ref> Geddy Lee Weinrib<ref name=":0"/>{{rp|at=10:58|q=timestamp}} (replacing his first name).

After Rush had become a widely recognized rock group, Lee told the group's drummer and lyricist, [[Neil Peart]], about his mother's early life.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ivie |first=Devon |date=2024-01-08 |title=Which Dumbass Thought They Could Replace Neil Peart in Rush? |url=https://www.vulture.com/2024/01/rush-geddy-lee-drummers.html |access-date=2024-03-10 |website= [[Vulture.com]] |language=en}}</ref> Peart then wrote the lyrics to "[[Red Sector A]]", which was inspired by her ordeal. The song, for which Lee wrote the music, was released on the band's 1984 album [[Grace Under Pressure (Rush album)|''Grace Under Pressure'']].<ref name="cjnews" /> The lyrics include the following verse:
{{poemquote|
I hear the sound of gunfire at the prison gate
Are the liberators here?
Do I hope or do I fear?
For my father and my brother, it's too late
But I must help my mother stand up straight.<ref>{{cite web| url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3ytkyn3vUU |title= Red Sector A| format= video | date= December 21, 2012| access-date= | via= YouTube}}</ref>}}