Lightfoot set for 2014 tour
Music legend marks five decades on the road
Juno and Grammy awardwinning singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot is hitting the road for another crossCanada tour.
Already marking five decades and more of touring, Lightfoot, 74, is set for a 2014 tour that will take him to central and eastern Canadian cities this spring, with concerts in St. John’s, Halifax, Moncton, London, Kingston and Hamilton as well as a number of smaller markets including Corner Brook, Antigonish, Summerside and Owen Sound.
The cross-Canada tour will continue with fall 2014 performances being announced in early 2014 for stops including Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Cranbrook, Ottawa and — as per tradition — ending at Toronto’s Massey Hall, for a four-night run. Ticket prices will range from $29.50 to $99.50.
Media partner CBCMusic. ca will host an exclusive Canadian ticket pre-sale beginning on Wed., Oct. 30. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Fri., Nov. 1.
A new Gordon Lightfoot Facebook page will offer up-todate tour details and regular contest opportunities that include tickets to 2014 tour performances and a chance to meet Lightfoot in person.
Lightfoot is beloved by music fans around the world. Born Nov. 17, 1938 in Orillia, Ont., Lightfoot studied at the Westlake College of Music in Los Angeles. He returned to Canada in the early 1960s and began performing at the Riverboat coffee house in Toronto’s Yorkville district and in coffee houses throughout Canada and the United States.
In 1966, his debut album Lightfoot! was released. Tracks such as For Lovin’ Me, Early Mornin’ Rain, Steel Rail Blues and Ribbon of Darkness brought him international recognition as a songwriter.
Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Johnny Cash and countless others performed cover versions of his songs. In 1971, Gordon earned his first Top 10 hit when If You Could Read My Mind became an international sensation. In 1974, his classic single Sundown went to No. 1 on the U.S. charts, followed two years later by The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, inspired by a Newsweek article. It reached No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard charts.
By the 1990s he was mostly touring, giving just more than 50 concerts a year by 1998, mainly in North America, while he released two albums in the period. In 2004, he released his 20th album Harmony, and appeared as a featured guest on Canadian Idol.
Lightfoot’s iconic Massey Hall residencies are celebrated with the release of his most recent album Massey Hall Moments — All Live, a collection of live recordings of the finest Massey Hall performances, recorded between 1998 and 2001.
Lightfoot has won 15 Juno Awards and been nominated for five Grammy Awards. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Canadian Country Music Hall Of Fame in 2001. In 2003 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada and is also a member of the Order of Ontario. In 2004 he was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and, in 2012, the U.S. Songwriters Hall of Fame.