Willowdale, Ontario, Canada

July 29, 1953

Few hard rock bassists have been as influential as Rush's Geddy Lee. Born Gary Weinrib on July 29, 1953, in Toronto, his parents migrated from Europe to Canada and got his nickname "Geddy" from when his mother would try to pronounce "Gary" in her accent. Taking up bass as a teenager and influenced by the likes of the Who's John Entwistle, Cream's Jack Bruce, and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, Lee, along with guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummers John Rutsey and Neil Peart, formed Rush in the late '60s, and by 1981's Moving Pictures, had become one of the biggest rock bands on the planet. ~ Greg Prato