Gordon Lightfoot Dead at 84

Folk icon Gordon Lightfoot has died at age 84 of unspecified causes.

The Canadian singer-songwriter’s loss of life was confirmed by a publish on his official Facebook web page. Last month he canceled upcoming 2023 tour plans, citing ongoing well being points.

Born in Orillia, Ontario in 1938, Lightfoot started his musical profession whereas he was nonetheless a baby, singing in native choirs and competitions. As an adolescent, he taught himself piano, drums and guitar, earlier than transferring to California in 1958 to review jazz composition and orchestration at the Westlake College of Music in Hollywood. Lightfoot soaked up folks influences like Pete Seeger, Ian and Sylvia Tyson and the Weavers, then wrote and sang business jingles for extra cash whereas additionally performing regionally.

Lightfoot moved again to Canada in 1960, settling in Toronto the place he shortly grew to become an everyday at folks music espresso homes. He slowly started constructing his repute as a singer-songwriter as acts like Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul and Mary, Judy Collins and (*84*) Presley recorded his songs.

Lightfoot signed a administration contract in 1965 with Albert Grossman, who additionally managed Dylan. His notoriety grew as he appeared at the Newport Folk Festival, on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and at New York City’s Town Hall. In 1966, he launched his debut album, Lightfoot! which included fashionable tracks like “For Lovin’ Me” and “Early Mornin’ Rain.”

Listen to Gordon Lightfoot’s ‘If You Could Read My Mind’

Four years later, in 1970, Lightfoot scored his first main U.S. hit with “If You Could Read My Mind,” which reached No. 5. He continued releasing albums by means of the ’70s, touchdown a fair greater hit in 1974 with “Sundown,” a No. 1 smash in each the U.S. and Canada. This was adopted by 1976’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” a tune a few sunken Great Lakes freighter that landed at No. 2 within the U.S. and No. 1 in Canada.

His affect stretched out amongst his folks friends, together with Dylan, who as soon as named Lightfoot as one among his favourite songwriters. “I can’t think of any Gordon Lightfoot song I don’t like,” he as soon as stated. “Every time I hear a song of his, it’s like I wish it would last forever.”

Lightfoot skilled a number of medical setbacks over the course of his profession — together with emergency vascular surgical procedure in 2002 which put him in a six-week coma – however he continued to jot down, file and tour up till his passing.

“There’s a different way of going at it every time,” he defined of his songwriting to Rock Cellar in 2020. “I’ve often thought about it that way. I have several songs that you would think I would get — that I had to be tired of playing, but the opposite is true. … They have a way of expressing themselves each time, and that expression is automatic.”

Listen to Gordon Lightfoot’s ‘Sundown’