Tragically Hip singer reveals terminal cancer diagnosis

Gordon Downie, lead singer of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame group The Tragically Hip, has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

Still, Downie, 52, is not going to let it keep him down as the band has announced a new tour. They said on their webpage:

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

Firm dates for the tour are yet to be announced.



The Tragically Hip formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984 and recorded their debut EP in 1987 for MCA. Their first full LP, Up to Here, was released two years later and, since that time, they have issued eleven studio albums, eight of which went to number 1 in Canada with the other three hitting either number 2 or 3. Their latest album, Man Machine Poem, is set to be released on June 17. They’ve had two chart topping singles in Canada, Ahead By a Century (1996) and In View (2006).

The group has fourteen Juno Awards, received a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2002 and were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2005. A stamp honoring the band was issued by Canada Post in 2013.