Aleksandar Živojinović (born August 27, 1953), known professionally as Alex Lifeson (), is a Canadian musician, best known as the guitarist for the rock band Rush. In 1968, he co-founded a band (which later became Rush) with drummer John Rutsey and bassist and lead vocalist Jeff Jones. One month later, Jones was succeeded by Geddy Lee and in 1974, Rutsey was succeeded by Neil Peart, at which point the lineup remained unchanged until the band's initial dissolution in 2015; Lifeson and Lee eventually reformed Rush in 2025, with Anika Nilles as a live drummer. Lifeson is the only member of Rush to have stayed in the band throughout its entire existence and, alongside Lee, the only member to appear on all of the band's albums. With Rush, Lifeson played electric and acoustic guitar, and various other string instruments including mandola, mandolin, and bouzouki. He also performed backing vocals in live performances and select studio recordings, and occasionally played keyboards and bass pedal synthesizers. Each band member sometimes performed real-time on-stage triggering of sampled instruments. They became Officers of the Order of Canada in 1996, as the first rock band to be so honored as a group. In 2013, he was inducted with Rush into the Rock and 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. Though the bulk of Lifeson's work in music has been with Rush, he has also contributed to a body of work outside the band, including a solo album titled Victor (1996), and two albums with Envy of None, a band that Lifeson formed after Peart's death in 2020. Aside from music, Lifeson has been a painter, a licensed aircraft pilot, an actor, and the former part-owner of a Toronto bar and a restaurant called The Orbit Room, which closed in 2020.
Bands
- Rush - current member
Credited On
- Rush - Rush In Rio - Rush, released October 21, 2003 (
0114310409). Audio Supervisor, Music Supervisor, Performer, Producer (Audio), Written-By.
Biography
From the en.wikipedia article Alex Lifeson (CC BY-SA 4.0), revision 1377879605.
Early Life
Lifeson was born Aleksandar Živojinović (Serbian: Александар Живојиновић) in Fernie, British Columbia on August 27, 1953. His parents, Nenad and Melanija Živojinović, were Serb immigrants from Yugoslavia. He was raised in Toronto. His stage surname of "Lifeson" is a calque of his birth surname Živojinović, which can be literally translated into English as "son of life". His formal musical education began on the viola, but he abandoned it in favor of the guitar at the age of 12. Lifeson recalls what inspired him to play guitar in a 2008 interview:
My brother-in-law played flamenco guitar. He lent his guitar to me and I grew to like it. When you're a kid, you don't want to play an accordion because it would be too boring. But your parents might want you to play one, especially if you're from a Yugoslavian family like me. His first guitar was a Christmas gift from his father, a six-string Kent classical acoustic which was later replaced by a red 1967 Canora hollowbody. During his adolescent years, he was influenced primarily by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend, Tony Iommi, Jeff Beck, Ritchie Blackmore, Hank Marvin, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Jimmy Page, Steve Hackett, Alvin Lee, Billy Gibbons, Johnny Winter, Denny Laine, and Allan Holdsworth; he explained in 2011 that "Clapton's solos seemed a little easier and more approachable. I remember sitting at my record player and moving the needle back and forth to get the solo in 'Spoonful.' But there was nothing I could do with Hendrix." In 1963, Lifeson met future Rush drummer John Rutsey in school. Both interested in music, they decided to form a band. Lifeson was primarily a self-taught guitarist with the only formal instruction coming from a high school friend in 1971 who taught classical guitar lessons. This training lasted for roughly a year and a half. When Lifeson was 17, he had an argument with his parents about his future; he wanted to drop out of high school to pursue his dream of becoming a professional guitarist. A video of the argument was part of a 1973 Canadian documentary, Come On Children, about the struggles of 10 adolescents. The argument was also included in two documentaries about Rush, Beyond the Lighted Stage (2010) and Time Stand Still (2016).
Rush
Lifeson's neighbor John Rutsey began experimenting on a rented drum kit. In 1968, Lifeson and Rutsey formed The Projection, which disbanded a few months later. In August 1968, following the recruitment of original bassist and vocalist Jeff Jones, Lifeson and Rutsey founded Rush. Geddy Lee, a high school friend of Lifeson, assumed Jones's role soon after. 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 riffs and solos in favor of "tonality and harmonic quality." Rush continued to record and perform until Peart's retirement in 2015. Lifeson and Lee announced a reunion of the band on October 6, 2025, with Anika Nilles filling in for Peart.
Victor
His first major outside work is his solo project, Victor, released in 1996. It was attributed as a self-titled work, where the name Victor is attributed as the artist and the album title. This was done deliberately as an alternative to issuing the album explicitly under Lifeson's name (although the rerelease on vinyl attributes the album to his name). The title track is from the W. H. Auden poem, also entitled "Victor". Both son Adrian and wife Charlene also contributed to the album.
Side Projects
Lifeson has also contributed to a body of work outside his involvement with the band in the form of instrumental contributions to other musical outfits. He made a guest appearance on the 1985 Platinum Blonde album Alien Shores performing guitar solos on the songs "Crying Over You" and "Holy Water". Later, in 1990, he appeared on Lawrence Gowan's album Lost Brotherhood to play guitar. In 1995, he guested on two tracks on Tom Cochrane's Ragged Ass Road album and then in 1996 on I Mother Earth's "Like a Girl" from the Scenery and Fish album. In 1997, he appeared on the Merry Axemas: A Guitar Christmas album. Lifeson played "The Little Drummer Boy" which was released as track 9 on the album. In 2006, Lifeson founded the Big Dirty Band, which he created for the purpose of providing original soundtrack material for Trailer Park Boys: The Movie. Lifeson jammed regularly with the Dexters (the Orbit Room house band from 1994 to 2004). Lifeson made a guest appearance on the 2007 album Fear of a Blank Planet by UK progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, contributing a solo during the song "Anesthetize". He also appeared on the 2008 album Fly Paper by Detroit progressive rockers Tiles. He plays on the track "Sacred and Mundane". Outside band related endeavors, Lifeson composed the theme for the first season of the science-fiction TV series Andromeda. He also produced three songs from the album Away from the Sun by 3 Doors Down. He was executive producer and contributor to the 2014 album "Come to Life" by Keram Malicki-Sanchez - playing guitar on the songs "Mary Magdalene", "Moving Dark Circles" and "The Devil Knows Me Well," and later on Keram's subsequent singles "Artificial Intelligence," (2019), "That Light," (2020) and "Rukh." (2021). Alex Lifeson is featured on Marco Minnemann's 2017 release Borrego, on which he played guitars on three songs and co-wrote the track "On That Note". In 2018, he played lead guitar on Fu Manchu's 18-minute mostly instrumental track "Il Mostro Atomico" from the group's Clone of the Universe album. In 2019 he was featured on the song "Charmed" from the Don Felder solo album American Rock 'n' Roll. On June 15, 2021, Lifeson released two new instrumental songs, "Kabul Blues" and "Spy House" on his website alexlifeson.com. The songs were released as a self titled project. Andy Curran played bass on both songs, and drums on "Spy House" were done by David Quinton Steinberg.
Envy of None
Following Rush's dissolution in 2018 and Neil Peart's death in 2020, Lifeson formed the supergroup Envy of None with himself on guitar, mandola and banjo, Alfio Annibalini on guitar and keyboards, Andy Curran on bass, guitar and backing vocals and Maiah Wynne on lead vocals and keyboards. The first single, "Liar", from Envy of None's debut album was released on January 12, 2022. Envy of None's self-titled debut album, which includes "Liar," "Kabul Blues," and "Spy House," was released on April 8. Envy of None issued their sophomore effort, Stygian Wavz, on March 28, 2025.
Book Forewords
Lifeson has written forewords to four books: Behind the Stage Door by Rich Engler in 2013; Shredders!: The Oral History Of Speed Guitar (And More) by Greg Prato in 2017; Geddy Lee's Big Beautiful Book of Bass by Geddy Lee in 2018; and Domenic Troiano: His Life and Music by Mark Doble and Frank Troiano in 2021.
Legal Troubles
On New Year's Eve 2003, Lifeson, his son and his daughter-in-law were arrested at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Naples, Florida. Lifeson, after intervening in an altercation between his son and police, was accused of assaulting a sheriff's deputy in what was described as a drunken brawl. In addition to suffering a broken nose at the hands of the officers, Lifeson and his son were both repeatedly tased. In April 2005, Lifeson and his son entered into a plea bargain with the local prosecutor for the State's Attorney's office to avoid jail time by pleading no contest to a first-degree misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest without violence. As part of the plea agreement, Lifeson and his son were each sentenced to 12 months of probation with the adjudication of that probation suspended. Legal claims against the Ritz-Carlton were settled out of court on a confidential basis in August 2008. In his book Roadshow: Landscape with Drums – A Concert Tour by Motorcycle, Neil Peart relates the band's perspective on the events of that New Year's Eve.
Influence
Many guitarists have cited Lifeson as an influence, such as Paul Gilbert of Mr. Big, John Petrucci of Dream Theater, Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree, Jim Martin of Faith No More, Denis "Piggy" D'Amour of Voivod, Parris Mayhew formerly of Cro-Mags, and John Wesley. James Hetfield from Metallica named Lifeson one of the best rhythm guitarists of all time. Marillion guitarist Steve Rothery has expressed his admiration for Lifeson's "dexterity" as a live performer; he also described Rush as a "fantastic live band". Jazz guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, after citing him as an influence, praised his "incredible sound and imagination".
Personal Life
Lifeson's first girlfriend, Charlene, gave birth to their eldest son, Justin, in October 1970. The couple married in 1975; their second son, Adrian, was born two years later. Adrian is also involved in music, and performed on "At the End" and "The Big Dance" from Lifeson's 1996 solo project, Victor. Aside from music, Lifeson has been a painter, a licensed aircraft pilot, an actor, and the former part-owner of a Toronto bar and a restaurant called The Orbit Room, which closed in 2020.
Sources
- Wikidata entity Q348177.
- en.wikipedia, Alex Lifeson (revision 1377879605), CC BY-SA 4.0.
- ja.wikipedia, アレックス・ライフソン (revision 107147386), CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Photograph: Alex Lifeson3.jpg on Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, by Shipguy.
