Catharine is correct about the timing. He quit drinking in the late summer/fall of '82, several years before he even met his second wife. He quit cold turkey, spurred on by the August concert in Saratoga which he was unable to finish. He has said in interviews that he realized that alcohol was destroying his personal life, his health, his songwriting and his performances. He credited his sister Beverley with helping him give it up. And, as mentioned earlier, she did work as his business manager for a number of years (I believe before then, although I'd have to research the timing). At the time he quit drinking, he was still involved in a long-term on-again/off-again relationship with the mother of his now 18 year-old son Eric.
I believe that Gord met Liz in 1986.
And to comment on something that rainydayperson said in the first message on this thread, yes, it is very interesting to read the lists of people whom Gord thanks on each of his albums. It does a very good job of outlining his whole life, in fact, both professional and personal. He thanks family, other musicians and people involved in the production of the album, the people who work for him at EMP, and occasionally others whose role or relationship isn't that obvious. For example, one person in the long list of dedications in Songbook was a DJ out of LA, Skip Weshner - the first person to play Lightfoot's music on the radio in the LA area in the "early" years, and instrumental in getting Lightfoot to appear at the now famous Troubadour. And, as they say, the rest is history.
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Valerie Magee
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