Gordon Lightfoot, a Canadian singer and performer who rose to international acclaim as a folk music icon in the 1960s and 1970s, died on Monday. He was 84.
“Gordon Lightfoot passed away this evening in a Toronto hospital at 7:30pm (2330 GMT),” read a statement on his official Facebook page, as obituaries from the Canadian press began to stream in.
The immediate cause of death was not disclosed. “More info to come,” the message said.
According to his website, Lightfoot had his performing debut in 1943, at the age of five, singing “I’m A Little Teapot” at a local church Sunday school.
Later, he became immersed in the Canadian and American folk scenes, alongside contemporaries such as Joni Mitchell and Neil Young.
While he is best known as a late-twentieth-century folk and folk-pop star, Lightfoot’s popularity – and continued songwriting – kept him touring internationally until just last month.
The artist canceled his 2023 tour dates in April, citing unexplained health difficulties.
Elvis Presley, Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan, and The Grateful Dead all performed Lightfoot’s songs, which ranged from a failing marriage to the grandeur of the Canadian countryside.
In his home Canada, the singer, known for classics such as “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” “Early Morning Rain,” and “If You Could Read My Mind,” was sometimes acclaimed as a modern-day poet.
Dylan once said of Lightfoot, “I can’t think of any (songs) that I don’t like.”
Lightfoot, on the other hand, was more cautious about his abilities, telling The Globe and Mail in Canada, “Sometimes I wonder why I’m being called an icon, because I really don’t think of myself that way.”
But his modesty was to no avail.
“He is our poet laureate. He is our iconic singer-songwriter,” Geddy Lee, the lead singer of Rock band Rush, told a 2019 documentary about Lightfoot.
Lightfoot “was hailed as Canada’s folk troubadour for his soulful music and stirring lyrics,” broadcaster CBC wrote in its obituary.
Lightfoot is survived by his third wife, Kim Hasse, according to music publication Billboard.
