Remembering Gordon Lightfoot
• As RAMP was hitting our publishing deadline Monday evening we received the sad news of the passing of legendary Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, who rose to fame in the early ’70s with such timeless hits as “If You Could Read My Mind,” “Sundown,” Carefree Highway,” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” Lightfoot died Monday evening, May 1 at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. He was 84 years old. Lightfoot’s death was confirmed by his longtime agent, Victoria Lord.
While he was acclaimed at home in Canada in the mid-’60s and served as an inspiration for such younger Canada-bred performers as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, success in America eluded Lightfoot until he signed with Reprise Records, which had released Young and Mitchell’s breakthrough recordings. Lightfoot’s 1970 Reprise debut, Sit Down Young Stranger contained the No. 5 U.S. hit “If You Could Read My Mind.” Based on the single’s success, the album was later renamed after its hit and rose to No. 12 in America.
Lightfoot reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974 with “Sundown” and also had top 5 hits with “If You Could Read My Mind” and the far-from cheerful Lake Superior disaster ballad, “The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald,” which hit No. 2 in the U.S. in 1976. All three of those songs reached No. 1 on the AC chart, as did “Carefree Highway” and “Rainy Day People,” during Lightfoot’s mid-’70s chart heyday.
Lightfoot continued to tour in recent years, including a much-praised stop at California’s Stagecoach Festivalin 2018. A documentary, Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind, directed by Martha Kehoe and Joan Tosoni, was released in 2019 and nominated for several awards in Canada.
Twice married and divorced, Lightfoot is survived by his third wife Kim Hasse, whom he wed in 2014; two children from his first marriage to Brita Olaisson; two children by second wife Elizabeth Moon; and two children from relationships between his first two marriages.
Among Lightfoot’s greatest admirers was Bob Dylan, who appeared at the 1986 Juno Awards to induct Lightfoot into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. In the liner notes of his 1985 career anthology Biograph, Dylan said of Lightfoot, “Every time I hear a song of his, it’s like I wish it would last forever.”
For a more in-depth look at Lightfoot’s colorful life and career, please do what we did and take the time to read Chris Morris‘ excellent coverage in Variety.
• Our friends at Benztown immediately swung into action and pulled off an Audio Tribute to Gordon Lightfoot, which you are encouraged to use. The tribute was written and produced by Tom Green and voiced by Darren Silva.
• SuiteRadio’s Rowdy Yates is offering up a six-song salute and tribute to Gordon Lightfoot that is fully produced, completely turnkey, ready for air and available NOW. Digital download instructions are available by e-mailing affiliates@suiteradio.net.
