Canadian folk music artist Gordon Lightfoot passed away on Monday. His songs "Early Morning Rain" and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" presented stories about Canadian culture that were popular around the world. He was 84.
Rep. Victoria Lord has confirmed that the musician passed away of natural causes at a Toronto area hospital.
Lightfoot, one of the most famous singer-songwriters to come out of Toronto's Yorkville folk club scene in the '60s, released 20 studio albums and wrote hundreds of songs, including the hits "Carefree Highway" and "Sundown."
Bob Dylan once referred to him as a "rare talent," and since then, scores of singers, including Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Harry Belafonte, Johnny Cash, Anne Murray, Jane's Addiction, and Sarah McLachlan, have recorded his songs.
His lyrics often delve deeply into his own life and experiences while also probing questions of Canadian national identity in many of his songs.
His "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" from 1966 described the building of the railway, and his 1975 song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" told the story of the sinking of a Great Lakes ore freighter.
A quote of his goes something like, "I simply write the songs about where I am and where I'm from." As a poet, "I take situations and write poems about them."
Lightfoot was self-aware of his cultural impact, despite being praised as a poet and storyteller. He took his responsibilities as leader seriously.
"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 stated in an interview in 2001.
Although Lightfoot was encouraged to pursue music by his parents from a young age, he had no intention of becoming a famous singer.
He started off in the church choir, but always wanted to be a jazz singer. The soprano's 13-year-old self triumphed in a talent competition at Toronto's Massey Hall's Kiwanis Music Festival.
Lightfoot recalled the "thrill of being in front of the crowd" in a 2018 interview. As the speaker puts it, "It was a stepping stone for me..."
In high school, his barbershop quartet, The Collegiate Four, won a CBC talent competition thanks to the initial success they had. He picked up a guitar for the first time in 1956 and started creating songs soon after. He failed algebra the first time around, probably because his interest in music distracted him. He repeated high school but this time graduated in 1957.
By that time, Lightfoot had written his first serious composition, "The Hula Hoop Song," which was inspired by the craze surrounding the then-trendy children's toy. When his efforts to sell the song fell through, he decided to spend a year in the United States studying music instead. Savings from his job transporting linens to hotels near his birthplace contributed to the cost of the vacation.
#gordonlightfoot
Rep. Victoria Lord has confirmed that the musician passed away of natural causes at a Toronto area hospital.
Lightfoot, one of the most famous singer-songwriters to come out of Toronto's Yorkville folk club scene in the '60s, released 20 studio albums and wrote hundreds of songs, including the hits "Carefree Highway" and "Sundown."
Bob Dylan once referred to him as a "rare talent," and since then, scores of singers, including Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Harry Belafonte, Johnny Cash, Anne Murray, Jane's Addiction, and Sarah McLachlan, have recorded his songs.
His lyrics often delve deeply into his own life and experiences while also probing questions of Canadian national identity in many of his songs.
His "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" from 1966 described the building of the railway, and his 1975 song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" told the story of the sinking of a Great Lakes ore freighter.
A quote of his goes something like, "I simply write the songs about where I am and where I'm from." As a poet, "I take situations and write poems about them."
Lightfoot was self-aware of his cultural impact, despite being praised as a poet and storyteller. He took his responsibilities as leader seriously.
"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 stated in an interview in 2001.
Although Lightfoot was encouraged to pursue music by his parents from a young age, he had no intention of becoming a famous singer.
He started off in the church choir, but always wanted to be a jazz singer. The soprano's 13-year-old self triumphed in a talent competition at Toronto's Massey Hall's Kiwanis Music Festival.
Lightfoot recalled the "thrill of being in front of the crowd" in a 2018 interview. As the speaker puts it, "It was a stepping stone for me..."
In high school, his barbershop quartet, The Collegiate Four, won a CBC talent competition thanks to the initial success they had. He picked up a guitar for the first time in 1956 and started creating songs soon after. He failed algebra the first time around, probably because his interest in music distracted him. He repeated high school but this time graduated in 1957.
By that time, Lightfoot had written his first serious composition, "The Hula Hoop Song," which was inspired by the craze surrounding the then-trendy children's toy. When his efforts to sell the song fell through, he decided to spend a year in the United States studying music instead. Savings from his job transporting linens to hotels near his birthplace contributed to the cost of the vacation.
#gordonlightfoot
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