We are in Peterborough, in the Province of Ontario, Canada. This evening there is a benefit concert
for the victims of severe flooding, and the local hockey arena has been turned into a concert hall.
The mood is feverish, for tonight marks the return of a hero. For the first time since his grave illness, save for a brief appearance in Orillia, Gordon Lightfoot will sing for his fans. He is accompanied by his best friend, his acoustic guitar. An ovation greets him as he steps onto the stage.
Then all is quiet. In the audience are staff members of the McMaster University Medical Centre. One of those members is Dr. Michael Marcaccio, who operated on Lightfoot several times over a
Thinner now, with a voice no less pleasant for its weariness, Lightfoot seems surprisingly at ease. He sings five of his hits, including the legendary If You Could Read My Mind and his most recent, Inspiration Lady.
Emotion can be read on the faces of the audience members. He is back, finally, this native son.
by Reine Lessard
The vagabond poet
A prolific composer and lyricist, an unparalleled performer, a guitarist, an environmentalist, the poet of love and tragedy, a pioneer of Canadian music, the darling of Canadians for decades… such is my subject. How many frontiers has he crossed, guitar slung over his shoulder, how many halls has he occu- pied, how many dreams has he launched? How many has he helped, motivated or even saved, among the lonely, the love- lorn, the discouraged, or those down on their luck, with a few simple words, with an enchanting melody?
It is a mark of the love so many have for him that their hearts skipped a beat when came the agonizing news of his hospitalization, for surgery from which he might not awaken. It was in 2002.
His fans could and can be found
Gordon Lightfoot, and how he changed a whole corner of music
everywhere, in all walks of life, in all age groups, for our romantic troubadour is back on the road. He travels his beloved land that is bounded by three seas. And he is every bit as welcome in Europe, in Australia, in the United States, where he takes his songs and wins over the crowds.
Hints of things to come
Gordon Meredith Lightfoot is born on November 1938 in Orillia, Ontario. The small port town near the pictur- esque junction of lakes Simcoe and Couchiching, not far from Georgian Bay, is known for its pleasant countryside and its wide open spaces.
Gordon Meredith Sr., his father, is a descendant of the Lightfoots of Scotland and Ireland, and his mother Jessica traces her roots back to the first white settlers in Orillia, which had until then been entirely a Native area.
Gordon is still a young boy when his parents split up. His gift of a fine soprano voice opens the doors of St. Paul’s United Church choir, with which he sings I’m a Little Teapot at the age of five. The choir conductor, Ray Williams, is mightily impressed and endeavors to teach him to put expression into his songs. His mother, whose love of music he seems to have inherited, encourages him, naturally, to become a singer. It is the right choice. When he is 10, accom- panied at the piano by his sister Beverly, he makes his first recording. His parents are his biggest fans. His mother clears the way for him to sing at such halls as the Kiwanis, and his father is always ready to drive him where he needs to go for a rehearsal or a concert.
In 1950 he takes classical piano and singing lessons, still with Ray Williams, and his performance of Bless This House at an amateur contest at the Orillia Opera Station earns him second prize. It is only the beginning, for the following year he records a 78 of The Lord’s Prayer.
The next two years are a turning point for the young Gordon. At a com- petition of singers younger than 13 at the Toronto Kiwanis annual festival, he comes first. He wins again a year later, this time in the category of sing- ers whose voices have not yet changed. The prize includes the chance to sing
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 63
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