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Lightfoot's tour will stop in Regina
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Tickets for Gordon Lightfoot's stop at Casino Regina go on sale Thursday.
Photograph by : Canadian Press Files
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Font: * * * * Nick Miliokas, The Leader-Post
Published: Wednesday, May 31, 2006
In show business, "retirement" is an ambiguous word. Quite often there is life after the farewell tour. For Gordon Lightfoot, the time has come to hit the road again.
The 67-year-old singer and songwriter, truly a Canadian folk music legend, will end a seven-year hiatus in terms of nationwide junkets with a series of concerts in October. It opens in Vancouver and concludes with a three-night "residency" at Toronto's iconic Massey Hall, a venue Lightfoot has played more frequently than any other solo performer.
This tour includes a date at Casino Regina, where Lightfoot will play the Show Lounge on Oct. 7. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Thursday at the cost of $75 each for the main level and $70 each for the balcony.
"The pure pleasure of playing live never wears off, even after 40 years in the business," Lightfoot says in a news release. "I feel it's the right time in my career to share my music in person once again with some of my favourite people and places in Canada."
Born in the scenic Ontario town of Orillia, in 1938, Lightfoot launched his career in the 1960s and earned a presence in Toronto's folk community with his concerts at the Riverboat club. He released his debut album (Lightfoot!) in 1966 and instantly gained international recognition as a songwriter with "For Lovin' Me," "Early Mornin' Rain," "Steel Rail Blues" and "Ribbon of Darkness," among other tracks.
In years to follow, Lightfoot songs would be recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, and Johnny Cash -- and then in 1971 Lightfoot's own rendition of "If You Could Read My Mind" became a Top 10 hit. He also enjoyed success on the singles charts with "Sundown" in 1974 and "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" in 1976. Harmony, his most recent album, the 20th in Lightfoot's illustrious career, was released in 2004.
Lightfoot has won 15 Juno Awards and been nominated for five Grammys. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001. He is also a Companion of the Order of Canada