A local tribute to the “Voice of Canada”.

North Bay artist Jeff Marceau says that was the inspiration to painting a mural of The Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie on the side of the Alger’s Furniture building on McIntyre Street.

He says Downie is right up there with Stompin’ Tom Connors when it comes to Canadian musical icons.

“That’s the only other person that I can think of, well, maybe Rush, that made as many references to the nation, but Gord Downie just had something about the way he wrote his music, it was just amazing, just incredible,” Marceau says.

Downie, who was diagnosed with brain cancer in December 2015, died Tuesday night at the age of 53.

Marceau was listening to The Hip on 101.9 Rock as Gord FM while painting the mural, joking that when Jann Arden was doing sound checks next door, ahead of her concert Thursday night at the Capitol Centre, he wanted to kick on the door to tell her to quiet down.

Meantime, Marceau says Downie won’t be the only artist featured on the wall.

“Stompin’ Tom is definitely going to be one of them, he (Bob Alger) was mentioning Leonard Cohen, I’d like to make it a whole wall of Canadian artists,” he says. “Not necessarily those who have passed away and those that are gone, but even recent artists and artists who have made an impact on Canadian music, in general.”

Marceau also recently painted the mural of David Bowie on the Cornerstone Marketplace at Oak and Ferguson and encourages everyone to “keep watching” because another mural is coming soon to that building.