Who Is Anika Nilles? What to Know About Rush's Touring Drummer

Anika Nilles has been rocking out on the drums for several years now ... and it looks like she'll be hitting some pretty big stages in the near future.

The professional drummer's been selected to support the legendary prog-rock group Rush on their upcoming reunion tour, which isn't too far out in the future.

We're going to take a look into the background of the musician and see how she was selected to take the stool of the group's legendary former drummer.

Nilles is originally from Germany, and she earned a degree in popular music and music business from the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg in Mannheim, according to Modern Drummer.

The musician had originally pursued a career in social education, although she gave it up in order to follow her dreams of working as a professional musician.

Nilles' big break came in 2013, when she posted a video for her track "Wild Boy" on YouTube, and the clip racked up thousands of views overnight.

The performer kept raising her public profile by sharing videos of her original compositions on YouTube, and she's earned millions of views through her work.

Nilles dropped her debut solo album, "Pikalar," which featured instrumental compositions, in 2017.

The performer's since released three further albums, and her most recent record, "False Truth," debuted earlier this year.

Nilles remained busy in between the release of each of her records, as she began appearing at international drumming festivals and drum clinics.

She also hit the road as part of Jeff Beck's band back in 2022, when she joined the late guitarist on a tour around Europe, according to Loudwire.

Nilles' involvement with Rush was revealed in October 2025, when the group revealed she'd been selected to replace Neil Peart on their upcoming 2026 reunion tour, reports Variety.

The group's former drummer died in 2020 following a battle with glioblastoma, and his family's given the band their blessing to hit the stage again.

Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson issued a press statement about their plans to get back together ... Geddy said they "could not be more excited" to have Nilles as their drummer.