Canadian rock musician, writer and occasional actor. He was the lead singer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip. He released six solo albums the final two of which were release posthumously; Coke Machine Glow (2001), Battle of the Nudes (2003); The Grand Bounce (2010), Secret Path (2016), Introduce Yerself (2017) and Away Is Mine (2020). Coke Machine Glow was sold along with a book of poetry of the same name, included with the CD. Canadian indie band The Dinner Is Ruined plus Julie Doiron and Josh Finlayson, called The Country of Miracles, served as his backing band for the first three solo albums. The godson of former Boston Bruins general manager and coach Harry Sinden, Downie attended Ernestown Secondary School (Odessa, Ontario) in grade nine and part of grade ten. He graduated from Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute in 1982, a school also attended by his band-mates. Downie then studied film at Queen's University in Kingston. Downie was a minor league hockey goalie and played for an Ontario championship winning Bantam level team in 1979.