Rush Receive Honorary Doctorates from Canadian University

The next time you're hanging out with the members of Rush, be sure to refer to each of the band members as "Doctor."

Geddy Lee, Neil Peart and Alex Lifeson are the proud new owners of degrees from Canada's Nipissing University, an institute of higher learning located in Ontario. In a ceremony held June 12, the trio received the school's first-ever honorary Doctorate Of Music, bestowed in recognition of their "significant and lasting contribution to live music and performing arts in Canada and worldwide."

Unfortunately, weather prevented the members of the band from being present at the ceremony, but Lee and Lifeson both acknowledged the honor via videotaped acceptance speeches, with Lifeson quipping that he wanted to celebrate by writing prescriptions for everyone, "but apparently I'm not that kind of doctor," while Lee joked, "Imagine a high school dropout -- and a rock musician no less -- receiving such an honor. Finally, my mother's dream comes true: she has a doctor for a son." Rush's portion of the Nipissing ceremony has also been uploaded to YouTube; you can watch that via the clip embedded at the top of this post.

Geddy Lee Addresses Nipissing University