HE IS FINE - the rumour of his death was a mistake!
I just spoke with Bernie Fiedler and the rumour that Lightfoot passed away last night is an internet hoax...
He is fine.. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/...rticle1208760/ SUNDOWN? NOT YET Gordon Lightfoot very much alive JAMES ADAMS Toronto — Globe and Mail Update Published Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010 3:05PM EST Last updated Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012 1:38PM EDT Canadian folk icon Gordon Lightfoot is alive and well, says the singer's long-time friend, despite rumours to the contrary which spread quickly on Twitter and were picked up by some mainstream media outlets. "I'm fine, everything is good. I don't know where it comes from. It seems like a bit of a hoax or something," the folk icon told all-news station CP24. "I was quite surprised to hear (it) myself." He went on to joke: "I haven't had so much airplay on my music now for weeks." Bernie Fiedler, Lightfoot's some-time publicist and road manager, said at 2:40 p.m. ET that the singer-songwriter was very much alive and in Toronto. Indeed, he claimed Lightfoot's secretary had spoken with the artist "just a half-an-hour ago." Mr. Fiedler claimed in a phone conversation that the death report was "a prank" originating as "a Twitter coming out of Ottawa." He indicated a media release might be issued soon putting the rumour of Mr. Lightfoot's death to rest. Mr. Fiedler also has been Lightfoot's concert promoter and tour organizer. A Canwest news service story reported the death Thursday afternoon and quoted singer Ronnie Hawkins, who reportedly confirmed the rumour. The story was published on several websites, including the Vancouver Sun, the Ottawa Citizen and the Calgary Herald, before it was pulled down. One report had singer Ronnie Hawkins confirming the death. Mr. Hawkins says he heard the rumour via his management team in the United States, which said they heard it by phone from someone claiming to be Lightfoot's grandson. "I think they can trace that phone call, maybe, and see who did that," Hawkins said from his home in Peterborough, Ont. "Oh what a dirty, sick joke that is, but I'm glad it was a sick joke and not the truth." A spokesman for Canwest did not immediately return calls for comment. ERRONEOUS REPORT: http://ow.ly/i/wMO/original |
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Ma'am,
What are you talking about ? |
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I live in Saint Louis and it was reported on our paper's user forum. I googled and a bunch of Canadian news websites said that he had died last night. I am SO VERY glad it is not true.
Am going to see him at the Ryman in March. Steve |
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A friend of mine sent me an email telling me Lightfoot had passed on!!! My heart sank but I am so glad that it was a hoax!!!
Morons on Twitter should really get a friggin' life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOT FUNNY!!!!!! IDIOTS!!!!! http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1473102/ |
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Gord was just on the local radio to say he is just fine..
he didn't know why the radio was playing his songs... most online papers have pulled the story.... http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local...4Entertainment |
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I read he was at the dentist when all this stuff hit the fan and driving home was wondering why the radio station was playing all his songs.
I had to laugh at that. |
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I'm just glad I heard about the hoax before I heard about the "death".
Delighted he's alive and well, but royally ticked at whomever needed to start such a rumour. |
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What a terrible, horrible hoax, thank you Charlene for clearing that up.
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WOW, miss a few days on corfid browsing and the sky falls! (well, even worse) i dunno what would motivate the rumour, is he still on the no fly list? ;) i did just read one reader comment under the G+M article (thanks for the link) and somehow got a grin out of it: "I have to admit I was disappointed after reading the headline. Not disappointed that he wasn't dead, but because I thought the headline was going to lead into a story about a new album. " hope GL & all here doing well ...still not too late to add GL to the closing ceremonies j |
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http://www.thestar.com/entertainment...-not-dead?bn=1
Gordon Lightfoot alive and well By BEN RAYNERPop Music Critic Thu., Feb. 18, 2010 Gordon Lightfoot, it seems, learned of his own passing much later than most Canadians. Unbeknownst to the 71-year-old Canadian folk icon, he was declared dead – first by a Twitter poster in Ottawa, then by a plethora of news websites, then by just about every other media outlet in the country – during a visit to his dentist on Thursday afternoon. It was only when he innocently flipped on the radio while driving back to his office that he learned that he was no longer alive. According to some reports, in fact, he had died the night before. “I was quite surprised to hear it myself,” a good-humoured Lightfoot quipped in a call to CP24 hastily made upon his return to the Early Morning Productions office, where the phones were predictably ringing off the hook. “I’m sitting in my office right now.” The speed with which Lightfoot’s death and resurrection in the media took place was amazing. At 2:40 p.m. EST, for instance, the Vancouver Sun’s website posted a brief announcing Lightfoot’s death, quoting fellow singer Ronnie Hawkins as saying his old friend had passed away the previous evening. By 2:52, it was gone. “I’m fine. I’m in great health. I’ve been doing just fine. The whole thing’s a hoax,” said Lightfoot during another call, this one to 680 News, joking that “all of a sudden, my music is in heavy rotation.” “We’re gonna be getting calls here all afternoon, I’m sure … I really appreciate the concern. I don’t know what to make of it but I hope that we’ll find out. But I’m fine.” Where the rumours came from is anyone’s guess at this point. Hawkins is certainly baffled. Reached at his rural-Ontario home, Hawkstone Manor, he called the whole affair “some kind of a sick joke” and graciously accepted the offer from this reporter of Lightfoot’s home phone number, which he’d misplaced, to ring up his old pal and apologize. Hawkins said he’d received a call from his management office in Minneapolis earlier in the day telling him Lightfoot’s grandson had phoned in to say that the man responsible for such indelible folk tunes as “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” and “Early Morning Rain” had passed away the night before. “I don’t know Gordon’s grandson. I didn’t even know if Gordon has a grandson,” he said, audibly flustered. “I called my wife in Florida and told her and I guess she faxed some of her friends and now, all of a sudden, it’s all over the world. It’s terrible. I can’t even get ahold of Gordon. Holy smoke, it’s unbelievable. “It’s a sick joke. I’m glad it is a sick joke, but it’s bad.” Lightfoot’s longtime manager, Bernie Fiedler, was clearly weary of the whole affair by the end of the afternoon. But at least he used it as an opportunity to promote the singer’s upcoming spring tour, which kicks off in St. John’s on March 29 and 30 and concludes at the John Labatt Centre in London on April 15. “He’s alive and well,” affirmed Fiedler. “He’s looking forward to his touring.” too bad the Lloyd Robertson rumour was a hoax...when he does pack it in (and move to FL or wherever) i hope he takes the entire CTV (Olympic) crew with him |
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Yikes!!!!
I just had one of those "Where were you when J.F.K., John Lennon,.....died" moments. Whewwwwww..... |
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The Sun has a mini-gallery of photos of an alive & kickin' Gord.
http://www.torontosun.com/entertainm.../12933196.html |
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YIKES like Yuri said, I had just seen on TV that Gordon Lightfoot had been reported dead, but it was not true. It got a little scary for 5 to 10 minutes until I came here to his loyal fans to find out what was going on.
~Thanks~ |
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I was just driving home and on the five o'clock and about five items in, the local news guy said "Canadian music icon Gordon Lightfoot . . . " And I thought oh-oh. But I was delighted that he went on to say ". . . is dismissing reports of his death which were reported on the internet today. Lightfoot said is much alive and well. He (Lightfoot) said that at least the reports resulted in an increase in the amount of play his music was getting today".
At least he can maintain a sense of humour about the whole thing. Brian |
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http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2...oot-alive.html
Lightfoot responds to death reports: 'I'm fine' Last Updated: Thursday, February 18, 2010 | 5:03 PM ET Comments79Recommend38CBC News Gordon Lightfoot, pictured here in 2005, says he was at the dentist when he heard reports about his death. (Aaron Harris/Canadian Press) Canadian icon Gordon Lightfoot said he was at the dentist when he heard on the radio that he was dead. The folk legend, whose hits include If You Could Read My Mind, Sundown and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, took the news lightheartedly and was soon on the phone with Toronto-based all-news station CP24. "I'm fine, everything is good. I don't know where it comes from. It seems like a bit of a hoax or something," the 71-year-old singer said. "I was quite surprised to hear [it] myself. "I haven't had so much airplay on my music now for weeks." The initial reports of Lightfoot's death appeared on Canwest news sites on Thursday afternoon, spreading instantaneously across many blogs and Twitter posts. The report was discovered to be untrue within minutes of the news being posted. B.C. Fiedler Management, Lightfoot's concert tour promoters, put out a quick statement proclaiming Lightfoot "is alive and in good health" and that the report was "false and completely without merit." "This is just an unfortunate prank," said promoter Bernie Fiedler. In fact, the singer's 12-city spring tour of Eastern Canada, Quebec and Ontario kicks off at the end of March starting in St. John's. Lightfoot has been beset by health problems over the past few years. He suffered a ruptured artery in his stomach in 2002. One report of the fake death attributed the news to fellow singer Ronnie Hawkins. Hawkins says he heard the rumour through his management firm in the U.S., which told him that they heard it by phone from someone claiming to be Lightfoot's grandson. "Oh what a dirty, sick joke that is, but I'm glad it was a sick joke and not the truth," Hawkins said. Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2...#ixzz0fvoGHJko Kenyon called me early this afternoon asking if I knew if the rumour was true. He had heard thru the newswire (he's a journo here in toronto) that Lightfoot had died on Wednesday night. He had called EMP and was told that they had just talked to him 30 minutes earlier. I then called Mr. Fiedler...and thankfully it's all a horrible rumour. |
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TC |
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Well I'm glad I missed that rumor! Thanks for the follow-up Char. Did I ever tell you that you're underpaid?
Bill :) Long Live Lightfoot!!! (LLL) |
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I just got wind of it myself.. what a bunch of sick jokers!!!! The Hamilton Spectator had a story that Grant Avenue Studios has been working with Lightfoot over the last few weeks making preparations to release a live CD from various concerts from Massey Hall. Hopefully this is indeed true, cuz I will take that if he's not going to put out a new CD of fresh material :)
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lol |
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I'm visitng a friend -we had been out all day and back at her house @5pm. While I was in the kitchen -she was checking her email and voicemail. So I heard a voicemail message...that Gordon Lightfoot had passed away :(. Clutching my chest and in near shock...I walked into my friend's office and fortunately she had just read an email informing her it was a hoax...which she very quickly passed along to me before I passed out!
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Man, my heart almost stopped when I was told of this. Good to know I can come here and be amongst friends!
Whew!!!!!! |
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"LLL"
Long Live Lightfoot!!!! I love it!!! :) |
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Yeah, I heard the report after i had already heard it wasn't true. Something like a headline GORDON LIGHTFOOT IS STILL ALIVE. Well, anything for a bit more airplay I suppose but what a sicko starting such a thing.
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video clip - from tv today: (links stopped working -this is my camera video of the TV)
Lightfoot very much alive, despite reports of death CTV.ca News Staff Published Thursday, February 18, 2010 6:35PM EST Celebrated singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot was in his car on Thursday when he heard some curious news over the radio: Gordon Lightfoot was dead. Contrary to the report, however, Lightfoot had just had a dentist appointment and was driving to his Toronto office. "My phone was ringing off the hook in my office when I got there," said Lightfoot, who put the rumour to rest in an interview with CTV Toronto's Paul Bliss. Not only did the singer, who is 71, have to field numerous calls and set the media straight, he also had to get in touch with his five children in the Toronto area and let them know he was okay. "I just made it my business to get on the phone and jump right in there and let everybody know it isn't so." Despite the severity of the situation, Lightfoot appeared to be taking it lightly. "I was shocked of course," he said, joking that "it's the best day for airplay that we've had in weeks." The rumour appears to have started on Twitter, and in turn was spread across the Internet when several Canwest media websites posted the news. Lightfoot said he wasn't sure how the rumour began on Twitter. "I'll just keep moving forward," he said. "I know it's going to sort itself out." Lightfoot was born in Orillia, Ont., and has been a major musical force since the early 1960s. He is considered one of Canada's best-loved musicians, gaining fame with songs such as "If You Could Read My Mind" and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." |
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I just watched the CTV interview with Paul Bliss - had to laugh, that's for sure. But, any publicity is good publicity with the upcoming Spring tour soon underway.
Somebody on the CBC site wrote that Gord was "FAMILY". I thought that was well put. |
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...and I should know better than to look for stories on the internet when all I had to do is hit the links that our fine moderator has posted here for us. Thank you much...
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How curious. The CTV site puts me through a commercial and then when teh actual content is to up pops a dialog box that says "Canada only." Swell.
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The CTV interviews were fascinating and very upbeat. Also you don't see him often speaking publicly with his specs. He looked very relaxed.
Brian |
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Lll!
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http://www.torontosun.com/news/colum.../12937261.html - video at link
Thursday, February 18, 2010 Joe Warmington News of Lightfoot's demise greatly exaggerated Last Updated: February 18, 2010 7:35pm Click here to watch the videoGood thing Gordon Lightfoot has a sense of humour. Even about his own supposed death. If only you could have read Gordon Lightfoot’s mind when he heard the news he was dead. “I looked in the mirror in my car and said ‘I don’t look dead,’ ” the Canadian music legend said jokingly Thursday night. But if you believe what you read, for several hours Thursday, the iconic singer was no longer with us. Twitter said so. So did many reputable media websites and news outlets. “Canadian icon Gordon Lightfoot dead at 71,” was the typical headline posted. Turns out reports of Lightfoot’s death were not just exaggerated but outright wrong. “It’s crazy,” the Orillia-born superstar singer of such hits as The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, If You Could Read My Mind, Sundown and Rainy Day People said in an interview. “I don’t know where it came from.” Lightfoot started his day by dropping into his office at Early Morning Productions at Yonge and Bloor Sts., and then drove to a dental appointment. Then he got the shock of his lifetime. “I was listening to Charles Adler on AM 640 when I heard him say I was dead,” said the 16-time Juno winner, member of the Order of Canada and Canada’s Walk of Fame. “I was stunned. I immediately went into the office and had them call, and then I went on with Charles to let everyone know I am here.” It was great radio for the nationally syndicated Alder, who so far is the only media person to admit his error. “What a relief said host with egg on face,” Adler said jokingly last night. “I have never been happier to be wrong about a story.” Not every day you get a story wrong and a scoop in announcing that at the same time. But this is the fast-paced media world that is Twitter and the like. You can’t blame a national radio host for going live on the air with something posted on news websites. Some are calling it an Internet hoax, but that does not take off the hook the mainstream newspapers that went with the story — quoting Rompin’ Ronnie Hawkins as the primary source. Lightfoot said at first he thought it was humourous. But then came the reality that he has a young daughter in school. “She heard about it and was upset,” he said. “I had to reassure her I was okay.” It shows how dangerous news-by-tweet can be. One call to Early Morning Productions put the false report to rest — which is what the Sun’s music writer Jane Stevenson did. “I’m fine, thank you,” Lightfoot told her. “The whole thing is a hoax. I’m in great health. I’m doing fine. I’m running around right now, doing my errands.” Yet the rumours persisted on line. Gordon is so strong and such a battler, it would be hard to imagine him going down without a fight. His survival from a 2002 stomach aneurysm, and his comeback to touring, is stuff of legend. “When I got the call about the report I didn’t believe it because my wife, Carol, and I just had dinner with him and he looks great,” close friend George Bigliardi said. “But I have to admit for a few minutes there I was very upset that our country lost one of its greatest ever entertainers and a very special person. We are so relieved it was wrong.” When I tracked down Gordon at a downtown office building yesterday he had a grin on his face and a gleam in his eye. Wearing a Canada pin and a yellow Support the Troops pin, he told me he had never had a stranger day. “I am too busy to be dead,” Lightfoot said with a smile. “I have a rehearsal (Friday) and next week we are heading to the United States for 10 shows before coming back home to play at Casino Rama.” He is very much alive and things are going great. Turns out the sun has not gone down just yet. “Heck,” Lightfoot said, laughing. “I haven’t had this much publicity and radio air-time in years.” joe.warmington@sunmedia.ca http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_co...&v=4TbEcUA5BVY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TbEc...ature=youtu.be |
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http://www.charlesadler.com/2010/02/...uch-alive.html - audio on radio.
talking about daughter hearing news before he could get to her.. |
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Geez... glad I heard about this bizarre situation post rather than during. Can't even imagine how one would take the news knowing that they are breathing at the same time...
Kimberly |
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Ronnie Hawkins talks about the rumour:
http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/lo...b=MontrealHome |
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There was also an internet rumour today about Whitney Houston dying &/or dead as well.
It aint true. As for Gordy, wellllll....let me put it this way: "Cockroaches, as a group, have been around far longer than man, over 200 million years, and they are survivors. They can withstand extremes in heat or cold, lack of food, lack of water, and even extremes in radiation. The last has been studied. At a research station operated by Oregon State University, various species of cockroaches were subjected to radiation many times higher than the lethal amount for humans. Not only did they survive, they multiplied. This means that in the event of a nuclear war, man may be wiped off the map, but the cockroaches would probably continue to survive." ....and Gordy will probably outlive the cockroaches--which is fine with me! "I am not afraid of death, I just dont want to be around when it happens" Woody Allen |
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Watch & listen to all those little video & audio clips here this morning, all very interesting & informative.
"I was shocked of course," he said, joking that "it's the best day for airplay that we've had in weeks." ~gl~ (lol ! pretty cool !) The Legend lives on ! :) |
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I'm also glad I heard the correction before the rumour. I haven't heard anything about Gord in Australia's media this week. (They might have been more cautious after falling for recent hoaxes saying Jeff Goldblum had died and Van Morrison had had another child at the age of 64.)
Some interesting comments added by readers of those newspaper reports about the Lightfoot hoax: "Now he just needs to make a hit song based on this." "C'mon Gord ... There's got to be a song in this!" If it's true that Grant Avenue Studios have been working with Gord over the last few weeks on a possible record from his many concerts at Massey Hall, that song (recorded in a studio or in an upcoming concert anywhere) would be a popular bonus track. |
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