won several Juno Awards, and won an International Achievement Award at the 2009 SOCAN Awards. The band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. History 1968–1974: Early years and debut album The band was formed in the neighbourhood of Willowdale in Toronto, Ontario, by guitarist Alex Lifeson, bassist and frontman Jeff Jones, and drummer John Rutsey, in August 1968. Lifeson and Rutsey had been friends since a young age and played together in a short-lived band, The Projection (formerly known as The Lost Cause). Afterward the two stuck together and brought in Jones to form a new group; their first gig was in September at the Coff-Inn, a youth centre in the basement of St. Theodore of Canterbury Anglican Church in nearby North York. They were paid CA$25. They had not named themselves at the time of the booking; Rutsey's brother Bill thought they needed a name that was short and to the point. He suggested Rush, and the group went with it. Due to increasing difficulties in getting to Lifeson's house for practice, Jones suggested that Lifeson get his schoolmate Gary "Geddy" Weinrib to step in on lead vocals and bass. Weinrib replaced Jones as Rush's frontman, adopting the stage name Geddy Lee. Rush rehearsed a set mainly formed of covers by various rock artists, including Cream, Jimi Hendrix, and John Mayall and underwent several line-up configurations that included Lindy Young on keyboards and various instruments, and Mitch Bossi on second guitar. Shortly after becoming a four-piece band of Lee, Lifeson, Young, and Rutsey, Ray Danniels was hired to be their manager. As Lee recounted years later, "Ray came along. He had no real reputation yet as a manager or anything. He was just kind of an agent working in Toronto. So he started directing the band and he just thought I wasn’t suitable, for whatever reasons he had. I don’t know whether it was the way I looked, or my religious background – who the f--- knew? Anyway, he influenced them and they went along with it, Alex Lifeson and John Rutsey, and I was out." With Lee kicked out of the band, Rutsey recruited new bassist and vocalist Joe Perna. The group of Lifeson, Rutsey, and Perna named themselves Hadrian. After a disastrous gig with Perna, Rutsey invited Lee back and the group