NBC News: Progressive rock drummer king passes away following a three-year fight with brain cancer.

According to a family spokesperson, Neil Peart, the drummer and main lyricist for the Canadian rock group Rush, has away.
Peart, 67, passed away in Santa Monica, California, on Tuesday, according to NBC News.
His representative said he passed away after a peaceful three-year struggle with brain cancer.
Peart became a member of Rush in 1974 and contributed to the band’s rise to prominence. When he was in his late 30s, he was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1983.
After the R40 Live Tour ended in late 2015, he declared his retirement from professional music.
Peart’s wife, Carrie, and their daughter, Olivia Louise Peart, survive him.
Neil Peart, the drummer, is regarded as his “mentor.”
Being a drummer in a band like Rush would be amazing. You would be able to use your creative skills more than you would with most other bands, but it would also be quite draining, so it seems like both a dream and a nightmare. The band Rush is well-known for their ability to switch between sounds and genres as if music were a second language. It’s amazing to listen to, but it’s a lot for a drummer to keep up with; fortunately, they have Neil Peart.
Peart famously remarked, “I came from a city that’s about 60 or 70 miles from Toronto,” referring to the typical series of events and mishaps that led to his inclusion in the band rather than his playing style. They suggested me as someone with an appropriate style since numerous musicians from my region had moved to Toronto and were playing with local bands.
“I suppose they tried a couple drummers, but we just clicked on both sides,” he added. The fresh concepts they were working on and the musical ideas I had immediately sparked a deep musical affinity. We also have a lot of interests outside of music.
A band like Rush will undoubtedly require an immediate connection. Both their albums and their songs are lengthy and intricate. A lot of time and a shared understanding of music are necessary for the enormous task of perfecting that sound and committing it to wax. Some of the most thrilling albums in recent decades are the consequence of their seeming discovery of that in one another.
Being a member of a band like Rush naturally requires you to be proficient in a variety of genres beforehand. When someone like Peart is able to experiment with a variety of genres and sounds, it’s worthwhile to consider who his main inspirations were. Even while he like many drummers, he refers to one in particular as his guru.