Le Studio, the Canadian recording studio that once hosted acts such as David Bowie, The Police, Rush, and The Tea Party, has burnt down thanks to a suspected case of arson.
As the National Post reports, the studio, which had been unused since 2008, burnt down on Friday and is now being investigated by local police as a case of arson. Andre Perry, who co-founded the studio and its adjoining lakefront home in 1974 said that the incident does not come as a surprise.
“I did my mourning a long time ago because it’s been a really, really bad state for years and years now,” said Perry. “It was deteriorated in a way that it was evident that something like that was going to happen.”
Famous for hosting the legendary Canadian band Rush, who recorded seven albums there between 1980 and 1993, Le Studio had been nicknamed ‘Rush’s Abbey Road’, and had gained worldwide fame for the records produced there.
Le Studio had hosted Cat Stevens, The Bee Gees, Keith Richards, and The Police amongst others, with The Police recording their legendary ‘Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic’ within the studio’s halls. David Bowie also recorded his Tonight album in the studio, the follow-up to his critically-acclaimed Let’s Dance.
In recent years, Le Studio became the target of vandals, with the once-legendary studio falling further into a state of disrepair. Canadian musician Richard Baxter started a GoFundMe campaign in an attempt to help restore the studio in 2015, but failed to reach his $800,000 goal, raising only $7,500.
Check out Rush’s track ‘Tom Sawyer’, one of the most famous songs to have been recorded at Le Studio, below.
