Music Monday: RIP Gordon Lightfoot, a folk singing legend
Posted By RichC on May 8, 2023
Canadian singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot passed away last week; he was 84. The respected entertainer has been a favorite of mine since high school and I enjoyed his music throughout the years … and still do. Music Monday has highlighted a few of his many songs and I felt obligated to reflect on his music this week (commented on a WSJ article in 2019).
Gordon Lightfoot, the Canadian singer-songwriter whose enduring folk hits included “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” and “Sundown,” died Monday, his spokesperson told CNN. He was 84.
Lightfoot died of natural causes at 7:30 p.m. at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, spokesperson Victoria Lord said.
His death comes less than a month after he canceled his 2023 US and Canada concert schedule on April 11. That cancellation was due to “health related issues” according to a Facebook post.
Lightfoot found success on the US pop charts in 1970 with the song “If You Could Read My Mind.” That track also earned the artist his second of four Grammy nominations, that one for best male pop vocal performance.
His 1976 ballad about the sinking of a Great Lakes cargo ship, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” reached No. 2 on the Billboard charts. Other hits included “Carefree Highway.”
The beacon at Split Rock Lighthouse on the North Shore will be lit Wednesday night from 9 to 11 p.m. to honor the late singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, who died Monday at the age of 84.
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