TORONTO — Gordon Lightfoot, Canada’s legendary folks singer-songwriter whose hits together with “Early Morning Rain” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” advised a story of Canadian identification that was exported worldwide, died on Monday. He was 84.
Consultant Victoria Lord mentioned the musician died at a Toronto hospital. His explanation for demise was not instantly obtainable.
Thought-about probably the most famend voices to emerge from Toronto’s Yorkville folks membership scene within the Nineteen Sixties, Lightfoot went on to file 20 studio albums and pen a whole bunch of songs, together with “Carefree Freeway” and “Sunset.”
As soon as known as a “uncommon expertise” by Bob Dylan, dozens of artists have coated his work, together with Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Harry Belafonte, Johnny Money, Anne Murray, Jane’s Dependancy and Sarah McLachlan.
Most of his songs are deeply autobiographical with lyrics that probe his personal experiences in a frank method and discover points surrounding the Canadian nationwide identification.
His 1975 track “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” chronicled the demise of a Nice Lakes ore freighter, and 1966’s “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” depicted the development of the railway.
“I merely write the songs about the place I’m and the place I’m from,” he as soon as mentioned. “I take conditions and write poems about them.”
Typically described as a poetic storyteller, Lightfoot remained keenly conscious of his cultural affect. It was a task he took very severely.
“I identical to to remain there and be part of the totem pole and take care of the obligations I’ve acquired over time,” he mentioned in a 2001 interview.
Whereas Lightfoot’s dad and mom acknowledged his musical abilities early on, he didn’t got down to grow to be a famend balladeer.
He started singing in his church choir and dreamed of turning into a jazz musician. At age 13, the soprano gained a expertise contest on the Kiwanis Music Pageant, held at Toronto’s Massey Corridor.
“I bear in mind the joys of being in entrance of the gang,” Lightfoot mentioned in a 2018 interview. “It was a stepping stone for me…”
The attraction of these early days caught and in highschool, his barbershop quartet, The Collegiate 4, gained a CBC expertise competitors. He strummed his first guitar in 1956 and started to dabble in songwriting within the months that adopted. Maybe distracted by his style for music, he flunked algebra the primary time. After taking the category once more, he graduated in 1957.
By then, Lightfoot had already penned his first severe composition — “The Hula Hoop Tune,” impressed by the favored children’ toy that was sweeping the tradition. Makes an attempt to promote the track went nowhere so at 18, he headed to the U.S. to review music for a yr. The journey was funded partially by cash saved from a job delivering linens to resorts round his hometown.
Life in Hollywood wasn’t a very good match, nevertheless, and it wasn’t lengthy earlier than Lightfoot returned to Canada. He pledged to maneuver to Toronto to pursue his musical ambitions, taking any job obtainable, together with a place at a financial institution earlier than touchdown a gig as a sq. dancer on CBC’s “Nation Hoedown.”
His first gig was at Fran’s Restaurant, a downtown family-owned diner that warmed to his folks sensibilities. It was there he met fellow musician Ronnie Hawkins.
The singer was residing with just a few buddies in a condemned constructing in Yorkville, then a bohemian space the place future stars together with Neil Younger and Joni Mitchell would be taught their commerce at smoke-filled golf equipment.
Lightfoot made his common radio debut with the only ”(Bear in mind Me) I’m the One” in 1962, which led to a lot of hit songs and partnerships with different native musicians. When he began taking part in the Mariposa People Pageant in his hometown of Orillia, Ontario that very same yr, Lightfoot solid a relationship that made him the pageant’s most loyal returning performer.
By 1964, he was garnering constructive word-of-mouth round city and audiences have been beginning to collect in rising numbers. By the following yr, Lightfoot’s track “I’m Not Sayin’” was a success in Canada, which helped unfold his identify in the USA.
A few covers by different artists didn’t damage both. Marty Robbins’ 1965 recording of “Ribbon of Darkness” reached No. 1 on U.S. nation charts, whereas Peter, Paul and Mary took Lightfoot’s composition, “For Lovin’ Me,” into the U.S. High 30. The track, which Dylan as soon as mentioned he wished he’d recorded, has since been coated by a whole bunch of different musicians.
That summer season, Lightfoot carried out on the Newport People Pageant, the identical yr Dylan rattled audiences when he shed his folkie persona by taking part in an electrical guitar.
As the folks music growth got here to an finish within the late Nineteen Sixties, Lightfoot was already making his transition to pop music with ease.
In 1971, he made his first look on the Billboard chart with “If You Might Learn My Thoughts.” It reached No. 5 and has since spawned scores of covers.
Lightfoot’s reputation peaked within the mid-Seventies when each his single and album, “Sunset,” topped the Billboard charts, his first and solely time doing so.
Throughout his profession, Lightfoot collected 12 Juno Awards, together with one in 1970 when it was known as the Gold Leaf.
In 1986, he was inducted into the Canadian Recording Trade Corridor of Fame, now the Canadian Music Corridor of Fame. He acquired the Governor Basic’s award in 1997 and was ushered into the Canadian Nation Music Corridor Of Fame in 2001.
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