"I had to think about my DJs. I was always looking for long songs that were also good songs, so they could do what they had to do." Donna Halper

 ...and the rest is history.



Donna Halper wants to set the record straight. Yes, she gave Rush its big break when she was a disc jockey and music director at WMMS FM/100.7 in Cleveland. Contrary to popular belief, however, she did not cue up the band's seven-minute song "Working Man" because nature called.
"I didn't have to go to the restroom, OK?" Halper said.
When DJs needed a break, they would put on what was known as a "bathroom song," for obvious reasons.
"As the music director, whether I had to go or not wasn't the issue," Halper said during a phone interview.
"I had to think about my DJs. I was always looking for long songs that were also good songs, so they could do what they had to do."
The Boston native moved here to join WMMS in 1973. The following year, a friend sent her an import record by a Canadian group that she'd never heard of. 


LINK HERE




 A rare Rush clip featuring the late John Rutsey on drums. Filmed in the spring of 1974. Rutsey was forced to leave the group later that year due to health reasons. His replacement was Neil Peart.