St. Elmo's Fire

In 1985 record producer David Foster approached John Parr about writing and recording the theme song for the upcoming movie St. Elmo’s Fire. John actually used recently injured and wheelchair bound Rick Hansen’s story as his inspiration for writing the song St. Elmo’s Fire, “Man in Motion”. The song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in September 1985 and gained John a Grammy Nomination.

Rick Hansen embarked on his "Man in Motion" World Tour on March 21st 1985 from Vancouver Canada. Although public attention was low at the beginning of the tour, he soon attracted international media attention as he progressed on a 26-month trek, logging more than 40,000 km through 34 countries on four continents before crossing Canada.

Rick Hansen formed the Rick Hansen Foundation and in the last 25 years the song St. Elmo’s Fire, “Man in Motion” has been its anthem helping raise over a quarter of a billion dollars for spinal injury research!