Gordon Lightfoot Forums - KELOWNA BC

http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/en...a4bcf6878.html A legend made in Canada

Posted: Saturday, October 25, 2014 3:00 am
By Jude Campbell | 0 comments

For many people in the ’60s and ’70s, he was the backdrop and fabric to their lives, his music intertwined with their own hopes, dreams and disappointments.

His hundreds of insightful and soul-stirring songs, delivered with hauntingly beautiful melodies, were sung coast-to-coast for decades.

The then tousle-headed young troubadour from Ontario has weathered his own personal life storms and can still gather an appreciative audience when he steps on stage, guitar in hand and ready for yet another performance.

The man is Gordon Lightfoot.

A legendary singer-songwriter who has always been proud to call Canada his home, he eschewed the lure of the American music industry to stay put right where he started — Ontario — and still conquered the U.S. folk music scene.
Lightfoot’s accomplishments are many. He is the winner of 16 Juno Awards, a five-time Grammy nominee, he has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, Country Music Hall of Fame, Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, U.S.A. Songwriters Hall of Fame plus a Companion to the Order of Canada,
His first brush with stardom was singing an Irish lullaby in Grade 4 and soon he was gaining exposure in Orillia as he performed in operettas and the expected music festivals.
As a teen, Lightfoot learned piano, then taught himself drums and percussion, but his best talent came out on six and 12-string acoustic guitar, strumming tunes that came to him and writing songs in high school.

“At the time, I was really interested in jazz, and convinced my parents the best place for me to study music theory would be in L.A.,” he said. “I wrote commercial jingles to make money, but after two years, I missed home, and so I went back.”

By then, his love of jazz was sidelined as he was influenced by the folk music movement, a sound that fit perfectly for coffee houses inhabited by young crowds looking for a different music genre.

Lightfoot’s guitar and poignant songs were just the ticket.
“I did coffee houses, lounges and bars. I was a solo act and in those days you could attract a crowd doing that. Now, the music industry has changed. You need a band to attract attention. I’ve know many really good musicians, good bands, who gave it a shot, but became discouraged.”
Lightfoot’s touching ballads kept the audience’s attention (often competing with the din of a hockey game on TV), and getting paid in dollars “and beer.”

Local radio air-time was also fuelling the lovefest for Lightfoot’s music. Two singles were local hits and by the early 1960s, he developed a reputation as a songwriter. His debut album was released in 1966; his latest release, All Live, in 2012.

His tours were bread and butter as he crisscrossed the country playing in auditoriums as well as the usual small venues, long hours on the road.

This year, he has 88 concerts scheduled on both sides of the border; offering up his famous hits like Sundown, Early Morning Rain, Rainy Day People, Summerside of Life, Alberta Bound, Carefree Highway, Old Dan’s Records, Cold on the Shoulder, Softly and If You Could Read My Mind—just the tip of the Lightfoot iceberg of top hits.

“My roller coaster of a life has been the material for my music,” Lightfoot candidly added. “The booze (sober now for decades), the failed relationships, all of the emotional trauma. Stuff in my subconscious surfaces. But I never, never wanted my life to be any other way, there was no other road for me to travel.”

Down that road, Lightfoot has faced down and overcome personal health challenges, and still loves the lure of the spotlight, the travel and his audiences.

“Reflecting back on these many years, I still ask ‘can I do better?’ And the answer is yes. I can do it better, and improve it with production,” Lightfoot said from his Ontario home, where he likes to spend time with his children and grandchildren.

A bug-a-boo question of ‘do you have a favourite song’ expects to get a typical artist reply of ‘no — that’s like asking which child do you like best.’

But it doesn’t faze Lightfoot.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he replies, “Did She Mention My Name?”

A heart-strings song on a long-ago failed marriage.