Alex Lifeson life and biography

Aleksandar Živojinović, better known by his stage name Alex Lifeson, is a second generation Serbian-Canadian musician, best known as the guitarist of the Canadian rock band Rush. In the summer of 1968, Lifeson founded the band that would become Rush with friend, drummer John Rutsey. He has been an integral member of the band ever since.


The son of Serbian immigrants, Nenad & Melka Zivojinovich, Lifeson was raised in Toronto, Ontario. Lifeson plays guitar, plays the occasional bass pedals and composes for the rock group Rush. Lifeson’s solo album, Victor, was released in 1996.

Outside of music, he owns and operates a small consumer-products design, engineering, and manufacturing firm The Omega Concern, as a gourmet chef is part owner of the Toronto restaurant The Orbit Room, and is a licensed aircraft pilot and motorcycle operator.

Along with his colleagues Geddy Lee and Neil Peart, Lifeson was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on May 9, 1996. The trio were the first rock musicians so honoured.

Rush was on hiatus for several years starting in 1997 owing to personal tragedies in Neil Peart's life, and Lifeson had not picked up a guitar for at least a year following those events. However, after some work in his home studio and on various side projects, Lifeson returned to the studio with Rush to begin work on 2002's Vapor Trails.

Vapor Trails is the first Rush album since the 1970s to lack keyboards—as such, Lifeson used over 50 different guitars in what Shawn Hammond of Guitar Player called "his most rabid and experimental playing ever." Geddy Lee was amenable to leaving keyboards off the album due in part to Lifeson's ongoing concern about their use. Lifeson's approach to the guitar tracks for the album eschewed traditional guitar riffs and solos in favour of "tonality and harmonic quality."

While the bulk of Lifeson's work in music has been with Rush, Lifeson's first major outside work was his solo project, Victor, released in 1996. Victor was attributed as a self-titled work (i.e. Victor is attributed as the artist as well as the album title). This was done deliberately as an alternative to issuing the album explicitly under Lifeson's name.

Awards:

-"Best Rock Talent" by Guitar for the Practicing Musician in 1983
-"Best Rock Guitarist" by Guitar Player Magazine in 1984 and May 2008
-Runner-up for "Best Rock Guitarist" in Guitar Player in 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986
-Inducted into the Guitar for the Practicing Musician Hall of Fame, 1991
-1996 – Officer of the Order of Canada, along with fellow bandmates Geddy Lee and Neil Peart
-"Best Article" for "Different Strings" in Guitar Player (September issue).
-Most Ferociously Brilliant Guitar Album (Snakes & Arrows) – Guitar Player Magazine, May 2008

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