16/11/2024
Born on 17th November 1938 in Orillia, Ontario, Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. was a Canadian singer-songwriter guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s. He is often referred to as Canada's greatest songwriter and is known internationally as a folk-rock legend.
Lightfoot's songs, including "For Lovin' Me", "Early Morning Rain", "Steel Rail Blues", "Ribbon of Darkness", a No.1 hit on the U.S. country chart with Marty Robbins's cover in 1965 and "Black Day in July" about the 1967 Detroit riot, brought him wide recognition in the 1960s. Canadian chart success with his own recordings began in 1962 with the No.3 hit "(Remember Me) I'm the One", followed by recognition and charting abroad in the 1970s. He topped the US Hot 100 or AC chart with the hits "If You Could Read My Mind" (1970), "Sundown" (1974), "Carefree Highway" (1974), "Rainy Day People" (1975) and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" (1976). He had many other hits that appeared within the top 40.
In 1963, Lightfoot travelled in Europe and in the United Kingdom, and for one year he hosted BBC TV's Country and Western Show, returning to Canada in 1964. He appeared at the Mariposa Folk Festival and began to develop a reputation as a songwriter. Ian and Sylvia Tyson recorded "Early Mornin' Rain" and "For Lovin' Me" and a year later both songs were recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary. Other performers who recorded one or both of these songs included Elvis Presley, Chad & Jeremy, George Hamilton IV, The Clancy Brothers, and the Johnny Mann Singers. Established recording artists such as Marty Robbins ("Ribbon of Darkness"), Leroy Van D**e ("I'm Not Saying"), Judy Collins ("Early Morning Rain"), Richie Havens and Spyder Turner ("I Can't Make It Anymore"), and The Kingston Trio ("Early Morning Rain") all achieved chart success with Gordon Lightfoot's material.
Gordon Lightfoot's music career has spanned more than five decades, producing more than 200 recordings. He helped define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s, with his songs recorded by artists such as Bob Dylan, Gene Clark, Dan Fogelberg, Jimmy Buffett, and Jim Croce. The Canadian band The Guess Who recorded a song called "Lightfoot" on their 1968 album “Wheatfield Soul” and the lyrics contain many Lightfoot song titles.
To stay in shape to meet the demands of touring and public performing, Lightfoot worked out in a gym six days per week, but declared in 2012 that he was "fully prepared to go whenever I'm taken." He calmly stated, "I've been almost dead a couple times, once almost for real ... I have more incentive to continue now because I feel I'm on borrowed time, in terms of age”.
Lightfoot band members had displayed loyalty to him, as both musicians and friends, recording and performing with him for as many as 45 years.
In June 2017, Lightfoot rated fifth in the CBC's list of the 25 best Canadian songwriters ever.
In mid-April 2023, Lightfoot's declining health caused him to cancel the remainder of his 2023 tour. Lightfoot died of natural causes at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto on 1st May 2023, at the age of 84.
