Aleksandar Živojinović, (born 27 August 1953), known professionally as Alex Lifeson (), is a Canadian musician who is the guitarist and backing vocalist of the rock band Rush. In 1968, Lifeson co-founded a band that would later become Rush, with drummer John Rutsey and bassist and lead vocalist Jeff Jones. Jones was replaced by Geddy Lee a month later, and Rutsey was replaced by Neil Peart in 1974. Before the band was disbanded in 2018, Lifeson was the only continuous member who stayed in Rush since its inception, and along with bass guitarist/vocalist Geddy Lee, the only member to appear on all of the band's albums. With Rush, Lifeson played guitar, as well as other various string instruments such as mandola, mandolin, and bouzouki. He also performed backing vocals in live performances as well as the studio albums Rush (1974), Presto (1989) and Roll the Bones (1991) and occasionally played keyboards and bass pedal synthesizers. Like the other members of Rush, Lifeson performed real-time on-stage triggering of sampled instruments. Along with his bandmates Geddy Lee and Neil Peart, Lifeson was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on 9 May 1996. The trio was the first rock band to be so honoured as a group. In 2013, he was inducted with Rush into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Lifeson was ranked 98th on Rolling Stone'''s list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time and third (after Eddie Van Halen and Brian May) in a Guitar World readers' poll listing the 100 greatest guitarists. The bulk of Lifeson's work in music has been with Rush, although Lifeson has contributed to a body of work outside the band as well. Aside from music, Lifeson has been a painter, a licensed aircraft pilot, an actor, and the former part-owner of a Toronto bar and restaurant called The Orbit Room. Biography Early life Lifeson was born Alexandar Živojinović (Serbian: Александар Живојиновић) in Fernie, British Columbia. His parents, Nenad and Melanija Živojinović, were Serb immigrants from Yugoslavia. He was raised in Toronto. His stage name of "Lifeson" is a semi-literal translation of the surname Živojinović, which means "son of life" in Serbian. Lifeson's first formal music training was on the viola, which he abandoned for the guitar at the age of 12. His first guitar was a Christmas gift from his father, a six-string Kent classical acoustic which was later replaced