Breaking: Folk Music Icon Gordon Lightfoot Dies At 84

• Gordon Lightfoot has died at the age of 84.
• He was best known as a Canadian folk music singer that later melded into the pop scene.
• He first hit the Billboard charts with his tune “If You Could Read My Mind.”

 

It has been reported that Canadian folk music singer Gordon Lightfoot has died at the age of 84. The news was confirmed by his longtime publicist Victoria Lord.

In the early 1960s, Lightfoot was a rapidly rising star in Canada. He achieved global recognition after his friends and fellow Canadians, Ian and Sylvia Tyson, recorded his songs “Early Morning Rain” and “For Lovin’ Me.” The popularity of these songs increased even further when Peter, Paul and Mary released their own versions, and when Marty Robbins topped the country charts with “Ribbon of Darkness.”

Remembering Gordon Lightfoot

This led to a significant boost in Mr. Lightfoot’s reputation, placing him in the same league as esteemed songwriters such as Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, and Tom Paxton, all of whom had a profound influence on his style.

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It was his 1965 debut album Lightfoot! that brought in a brand new folk voice and nearing the end of the decade, he began to meld easily into the pop scene. He first hit the Billboard chart with 1971’s “If You Could Read My Mind.”

Lightfoot’s popularity would peak in the mid-1970s when both his single and album Sundown topped the Billboard charts. It was his first and only time accomplishing this. Lightfoot had allegedly been undergoing some health challenges in recent years, although his cause of death has yet to be disclosed.

Rest in peace.