TORONTO (AP) — Gordon Lightfoot, Canada’s legendary people singer-songwriter whose hits together with “Early Morning Rain” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” informed a story of Canadian identification that was exported worldwide, died on Monday. He was 84.
Representative Victoria Lord mentioned the musician died at a Toronto hospital. His explanation for demise was not instantly obtainable.
Considered one of the famend voices to emerge from Toronto’s Yorkville people membership scene within the Nineteen Sixties, Lightfoot went on to file 20 studio albums and pen tons of of songs, together with “Carefree Highway” and “Sundown.”
Once known as a “rare talent” by Bob Dylan, dozens of artists have lined his work, together with Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Harry Belafonte, Johnny Cash, Anne Murray, Jane’s Addiction 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 music “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” chronicled the demise of a Great Lakes ore freighter, and 1966’s “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” depicted the development of the railway.
“I simply write the songs about where I am and where I’m from,” he as soon as mentioned. “I take situations and write poems about them.”
Often described as a poetic storyteller, Lightfoot remained keenly conscious of his cultural affect. It was a job he took very significantly.
“I just like to stay there and be a part of the totem pole and look after the responsibilities I’ve acquired over the years,” he mentioned in a 2001 interview.
While Lightfoot’s dad and mom acknowledged his musical abilities early on, he didn’t got down to turn into a famend balladeer.
He started singing in his church choir and dreamed of changing into a jazz musician. At age 13, the soprano gained a expertise contest on the Kiwanis Music Festival, held at Toronto’s Massey Hall.
“I remember the thrill of being in front of the crowd,” 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 Four, gained a CBC expertise competitors. He strummed his first guitar in 1956 and commenced to dabble in songwriting within the months that adopted. Perhaps 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 Song,” impressed by the favored children’ toy that was sweeping the tradition. Attempts to promote the music 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 “Country Hoedown.”
His first gig was at Fran’s Restaurant, a downtown family-owned diner that warmed to his people sensibilities. It was there he met fellow musician Ronnie Hawkins.
The singer was dwelling with a couple of buddies in a condemned constructing in Yorkville, then a bohemian space the place future stars together with Neil Young and Joni Mitchell would study their commerce at smoke-filled golf equipment.
Lightfoot made his well-liked radio debut with the one ”(Remember Me) I’m the One” in 1962, which led to a variety of hit songs and partnerships with different native musicians. When he began enjoying the Mariposa Folk Festival 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 optimistic word-of-mouth round city and audiences have been beginning to collect in rising numbers. By the following yr, Lightfoot’s music “I’m Not Sayin’” was successful in Canada, which helped unfold his title within the United States.
A few covers by different artists didn’t harm 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. Top 30. The music, which Dylan as soon as mentioned he wished he’d recorded, has since been lined by tons of of different musicians.
That summer season, Lightfoot carried out on the Newport Folk Festival, the identical yr Dylan rattled audiences when he shed his folkie persona by enjoying an electrical guitar.
As the people music increase 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 Could Read My Mind.” 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, “Sundown,” topped the Billboard charts, his first and solely time doing so.
During 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 Industry Hall of Fame, now the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. He acquired the Governor General’s award in 1997 and was ushered into the Canadian Country Music Hall Of Fame in 2001.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”
