PLAQUE: Gordon Lightfoot

Legendary folk singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot has died at age 84, says 
a representative for the family.

Updated May 2, 2023 1:29 a.m. GMT
Published May 2, 2023 1:26 a.m. GMT

Legendary Canadian folk singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot has died at age 
84.

Victoria Lord, a representative for the family, says the musician behind 
classic Canadian ballads "Early Morning Rain" and "The Wreck of the Edmund 
Fitzgerald" died at a Toronto hospital on Monday evening.

His cause of death was not immediately available.

The Orillia, Ont., native rose to fame in the early 1960s after a move to 
Toronto opened doors in the thriving Yorkville music scene, and hooked him 
up with fellow folkies Ian and Sylvia Tyson. They became great admirers of 
his work and covered two of his tracks.

His 1965 debut album "Lightfoot!" ushered in a new folk voice and by the 
turn of the decade he eased rather effortlessly into the pop scene, making 
his first appearance on the Billboard chart with 1971's "If You Could Read 
My Mind."

Lightfoot's popularity peaked in the mid-1970s when both his single and 
album "Sundown" topped Billboard -- his first and only time doing so.

But his chart positions did little to slow him down in the final decades of 
his career when he built a reputation as one of the stalwart road musicians, 
in spite of various health challenges.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 1, 2023.