Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. was a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved worldwide success and helped define the singer-songwriter era of the 1970s. Widely considered one of Canada's greatest songwriters, he had numerous gold and platinum albums, and his songs have been covered by many of the world's most renowned musical artists. Lightfoot's biographer Nicholas Jennings wrote, "His name is synonymous with timeless songs about trains and shipwrecks, rivers and highways, lovers and loneliness."
Covers of Lightfoot's songs by other acts, including "For Lovin' Me", "Early Morning Rain", "Steel Rail Blues", "Home From The Forest", and "Ribbon of Darkness", a number one hit on the U.S. country chart for Marty Robbins, brought him recognition from the mid-1960s. Chart success with his own recordings began in Canada in 1962 with the No. 3 hit Me) I'm the One" and led to a series of major hits at home and abroad throughout the 1970s. He topped the US Hot 100 or Adult Contemporary chart with "If You Could Read My Mind", "Sundown" ; "Carefree Highway", "Rainy Day People", and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald".
Robbie Robertson of the Band described Lightfoot as "a national treasure". Bob Dylan said, "I can't think of any Gordon Lightfoot song I don't like. Every time I hear a song of his, it's like I wish it would last forever." Lightfoot was the featured musical performer at the opening ceremonies of the 1988 Winter Olympics and received numerous honours and awards during his career.
Early life, family and education
Lightfoot was born in Orillia, Ontario, on November 17, 1938, to Jessie Vick Trill Lightfoot and Gordon Lightfoot Sr., who owned a local dry cleaning business. He was of Scottish descent. He had an older sister, Beverley. His mother recognized Lightfoot's musical talent early on and schooled him to become a successful child performer. He first performed publicly in grade four, singing the Irish-American lullaby "Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral", which was broadcast over his school's public address system during a parents' day event.As a youth, he sang in the choir of Orillia's St. Paul's United Church under the direction of choirmaster Ray Williams. Lightfoot credited Williams with teaching him to sing with emotion and to have confidence in his voice. Lightfoot was a boy soprano; he appeared periodically on local Orillia radio, performed in local operettas and oratorios, and gained exposure through various Kiwanis music festivals. At the age of twelve, after winning a competition for boys whose voices had not yet changed, he made his first appearance at Massey Hall in Toronto, a venue he would ultimately play over 170 more times throughout his career.
As a teenager, Lightfoot learned piano and taught himself to play drums and percussion. He performed live in Muskoka, a resort area north of Orillia, singing "for a couple of beers". Lightfoot performed extensively throughout high school, Orillia District Collegiate & Vocational Institute, and taught himself to play folk guitar. A formative influence on his music at this time was 19th-century master American songwriter Stephen Foster.
Lightfoot relocated to Los Angeles in 1958 to study jazz composition and orchestration for two years at the Westlake College of Music.
Career
Beginnings
To support himself while in California, Lightfoot sang on demonstration records and wrote, arranged, and produced commercial jingles. Among his influences was the folk music of Pete Seeger, Bob Gibson, Ian & Sylvia Tyson, and The Weavers. Homesick for Toronto, he returned there in 1960 and lived in Canada thereafter, though some of his recording and much of his touring were done in the United States.After his return to Canada, Lightfoot performed with the Singin' Swingin' Eight, a group featured on the CBC's Country Hoedown TV series, and with the Gino Silvi Singers. He soon became known at Toronto folk-oriented coffee houses. In 1961, Lightfoot released two singles, both recorded at RCA in Nashville and produced by Louis Innis and Art Snider, that were local hits in Toronto and received some airplay elsewhere in Canada and the northeastern United States. Me) I'm the One" reached No. 3 on CHUM radio in Toronto in July 1962 and was a top 20 hit on Montreal's CKGM, then a very influential Canadian Top 40 station. The follow-up single was "Negotiations"/"It's Too Late, He Wins"; it reached No. 27 on CHUM in December. He sang with Terry Whelan in a duo called the Two-Tones/Two-Timers. They recorded a live album, released in 1962, Two-Tones at the Village Corner.
In 1963, Lightfoot travelled in Europe and for one year in the UK hosted the BBC's Country and Western Show TV series before returning to Canada in 1964. He appeared at the Mariposa Folk Festival and started to develop his reputation as a songwriter. Ian and Sylvia Tyson recorded "Early Mornin' Rain" and "For Lovin' Me"; a year later both songs were recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary. Other performers covering one or both of these songs included Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Chad & Jeremy, George Hamilton IV, the Clancy Brothers, The Grateful Dead and the Johnny Mann Singers. Established recording artists such as Marty Robbins, Judy Collins, Richie Havens and Spyder Turner, and the Kingston Trio all achieved chart success with Lightfoot's material.
1960s
In 1965, Lightfoot signed a management contract with Albert Grossman, who also represented many prominent American folk performers, and signed a recording contract with United Artists who released his version of "I'm Not Sayin'" as a single. Appearances at the Newport Folk Festival, The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, and New York's Town Hall increased his following and bolstered his reputation. 1966 marked the release of his debut album Lightfoot!, which was recorded in New York City and brought him greater exposure as both a singer and a songwriter. The album featured many now-famous songs, including "For Lovin' Me", "Early Mornin' Rain", "Steel Rail Blues", and "Ribbon of Darkness". On the strength of the Lightfoot! album, blending Canadian and universal themes, Lightfoot became one of the first Canadian singers to achieve definitive home-grown stardom without having to move permanently to the United States to develop it. Lightfoot also recorded in Nashville at Forest Hills Music Studio run by Owen Bradley and his son Jerry during the 1960s.To kick off Canada's Centennial year, the CBC commissioned Lightfoot to write the "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" for a special broadcast on January 1, 1967. Between 1966 and 1969, Lightfoot recorded four additional albums at United Artists: The Way I Feel, Did She Mention My Name?, Back Here on Earth, and the live Sunday Concert, and consistently placed singles in the Canadian top 40, including "Go-Go Round", "Spin, Spin", and "The Way I Feel". His biggest hit of the era was a cover of Bob Dylan's "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues", which peaked at No. 3 on the Canadian charts in December 1965. Did She Mention My Name? featured "Black Day in July" about the 1967 Detroit riot. Weeks later, upon the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, radio stations in thirty states pulled the song for "fanning the flames", even though the song was a plea for racial harmony. Lightfoot stated at the time radio station owners cared more about playing songs "that make people happy" and not those "that make people think."
Unhappy at a lack of support from United Artists, he moved to Warner Bros. Records, scoring his first major international hit early in 1971 with "If You Could Read My Mind". Lightfoot's albums prior to this were well received abroad but did not produce hit singles outside Canada. Until 1971, he was better known in the US as a songwriter than a performer but was to find commercial success there before being fully appreciated in his home country.
Lightfoot's success as a live performer continued to grow throughout the late 1960s. He embarked on his first Canadian national tour in 1967 and went on to tour Europe in addition to his North American dates through the mid-70s. He was also well-received on two tours of Australia.
1970s
"If You Could Read My Mind" sold over a million copies and was awarded a gold record. It had originally appeared on the 1970 album Sit Down Young Stranger. After the song's success, the album was reissued under the new title If You Could Read My Mind. It then reached No. 5 in the US and represented the turning point in Lightfoot's career. The album also featured his version of "Me and Bobby McGee", as well as "The Pony Man" and "Minstrel of the Dawn".Over the next seven years, he recorded a series of albums that established him as a major singer-songwriter:
- Summer Side of Life, with the title track, "Ten Degrees and Getting Colder", "Cotton Jenny", "Talking in Your Sleep", and a re-working of one of his early 60s songs, "Cabaret"
- Don Quixote, with "Beautiful", "Looking at the Rain", "Christian Island ", and the title track
- Old Dan's Records, his first frontline album to be recorded in Toronto, with the title track, "That Same Old Obsession", "You Are What I Am", "It's Worth Believin'" and "Can't Depend on Love"
- Sundown, known for the title track and "Carefree Highway", plus "The Watchman's Gone", "High and Dry", "Circle of Steel", and "Too Late for Prayin'"
- Cold on the Shoulder, with the title track, "All the Lovely Ladies", "Fine as Fine Can Be", "Cherokee Bend", and "Rainy Day People"
- The double compilation Gord's Gold containing his major Reprise hits to that point and twelve new versions of his most popular songs from his United Artists era
- Summertime Dream including "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" and "I'm Not Supposed to Care", "Race Among the Ruins", "Spanish Moss" and "Never Too Close"
- Endless Wire with "Daylight Katy", "Dreamland", a new version of "The Circle Is Small", and the title track
In 1972, Lightfoot contracted Bell's palsy, a condition that left his face partially paralysed for a time. The affliction curtailed his touring schedule but Lightfoot nevertheless continued to deliver major hits: in June 1974 his classic single "Sundown" went to No.1 on the American and Canadian charts. It would be his only number one hit in the United States. He performed it twice on NBC's The Midnight Special. The follow-up "Carefree Highway" also charted Top 10 in both countries.
In 1974, Lightfoot's longtime business manager Al Mair set up Attic Records, which would become the largest and most influential Canadian independent record label.
Late in 1975, Lightfoot read a Newsweek magazine article reporting on the loss of the, which sank on November 10, 1975, on Lake Superior during a severe storm with the loss of all 29 crew members. The lyrics he wrote for "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", released the following year, were substantially based on facts found in the article and elsewhere. It reached number two on the United States Billboard chart and hit number one in Canada. Lightfoot appeared at several 25th anniversary memorial services of the sinking and stayed in personal contact with the family members of the men who perished.
In 1978, Lightfoot had a top 40 hit in the United States with "The Circle Is Small", which reached the top 5 on the adult contemporary chart. It was his last major hit.