May 1 (UPI) — Legendary Canadian folk singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, who gained major pop music success in the United States during the 1970s, has died. He was 84 years old.
Lightfoot died Monday evening in Toronto, according to his longtime agent, Victoria Lord.
The singer, who gained fame in Canada in the 1960s with folk songs “Early Morning Rain,” “For Loving Me” and “Ribbon of Darkness,” gained even bigger fame in the United States during the 1970s with “If You Could Read My Mind,” “Sundown,” “Carefree Highway” and the 1976 hit “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
Lightfoot’s music chronicled stories that included a failing marriage in “If You Could Read My Mind” and the sinking of a Great Lakes ore freighter in “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” “Sundown” was Lightfoot’s first and only song and album to top the Billboard charts.
In all, Lightfoot recorded 20 studio albums with songs that have been covered by dozens of artists including Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand and Sarah Mclachlan.
Lightfoot was born on Nov. 17, 1938, in Orillia, Ontario, Canada, with an early interest in music. He made his first appearance at Massey Hall in Toronto just before he turned 13 in a singing competition.
By the early 1960s, Lightfoot had written 75 folk songs. While popular in Canada, Lightfoot was introduced to the manager of Peter, Paul and Mary and rock legend Bob Dylan, which expanded his career into the United States. His first album release with Warner Brothers, called Sit Down Young Stranger, reached #5 on the U.S. charts in 1970.
Dylan, Lightfoot’s contemporary, said, “every time I hear a song of his, it’s like I wish it would last forever.”
On Monday night, tributes from all over the world poured in, including one from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“We have lost one of our greatest singer-songwriters. Gordon Lightfoot captured our country’s spirit in his music — and in doing so, he helped shape Canada’s soundscape,” Trudeau tweeted Monday.
“May his music continue to inspire future generations, and may his legacy live on forever. To his family, friends and many fans across the country and around the world: I’m keeping you in my thoughts at this difficult time.”
