Canadian music icon Gordon Lightfoot dies at 84 – Statement by the Prime Minister

OTTAWA, ON, May 2, 2023 – Canadian music legend, folk-singer Gordon Lightfoot has died at 84 at Toronto’s Sunnybrook hospital on Monday night.

Lightfoot’s family released the following official statement late Monday night:

“It is with profound sadness that we confirm that Gordon Meredith Lightfoot has passed away. Gordon died peacefully on Monday, May 1, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. He died of natural causes. He was 84 years old.”

Emerging from Toronto’s Yorkville folk club scene in the 1960s, Orillia-born, Toronto resident, Lightfoot was a prolific perfectionist, recording 20 studio albums and writing hundreds of songs, including including massive hits: “Sundown,” “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” “Carefree Highway,” and “If You Could Read My Mind.”

Today, Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, issued the following statement on the death of Gordon Lightfoot:

“I was deeply saddened to hear of the passing yesterday of Gordon Lightfoot, one of Canada’s greatest singer-songwriters.

“Mr. Lightfoot gave us so many special moments over the years. With a career that spanned over half a century, Mr. Lightfoot’s music told stories that captured the Canadian spirit, none more so than his iconic Canadian Railroad Trilogy, which will forever be a part of our country’s musical heritage.

“I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Lightfoot as a child – he spent the afternoon in the Gatineau Hills with my family, and it is a memory I will always cherish.

“Mr. Lightfoot received many Juno Awards and Grammy nominations, and was honoured as a member of Canada’s Walk of Fame, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award in 1997, and was appointed Companion of the Order of Canada in 2003.

“On behalf of all Canadians, Sophie and I express our deepest sympathies to Gordon’s family, friends, and his many, many fans. His legacy will live on in the dynamic Canadian soundscape he helped to shape.”

Gordon Lightfoot is survived by his third wife Kim Hasse, six children – Fred, Ingrid, Eric, Galen, Miles and Meredithand – and seven grandchildren.

More Tributes to Canadian music legend, Gordon Lightfoot:

SOURCE Prime Minister’s Office

Lead photo Lightfoot performing at Interlochen, Michigan, in 2009. photo by Arnielee, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

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