In rather somber news, Canadian rockers The Tragically Hip announced that lead singer Gord Downie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer back in December. Band members Paul Langlois, Rob Baker, Gord Sinclair and Johnny Fay, along with family and friends, have stood beside Downie these last few months as the singer has endured the struggle that goes along with such a diagnosis.
In spite of this heavyhearted news, the group has decided to do one more tour as “This feels like the right thing to do now, for Gord, and for all of us”. You can read the message posted by the band, below:
An Important Message From The Band:
Hello friends. We have some very tough news to share with you today, and we wish it wasn’t so.
A few months ago, in December, Gord Downie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.
Since then, obviously, he’s endured a lot of difficult times, and he has been fighting hard. In privacy along with his family, and through all of this, we’ve been standing by him.
So after 30-some years together as The Tragically Hip, thousands of shows, and hundreds of tours…
We’ve decided to do another one.
This feels like the right thing to do now, for Gord, and for all of us.
What we in The Hip receive, each time we play together, is a connection; with each other; with music and it’s magic; and during the shows, a special connection with all of you, our incredible fans.
So, we’re going to dig deep, and try to make this our best tour yet.
We hope you can come out and join us this summer – details and dates will be coming this week.
And we sincerely thank all of you, for your continued love and support,
– Paul, GordD, Johnny, Rob, GordS
Our thoughts and prayers are with Gord and the entire The Tragically Hip family at this time.