When Gordon Lightfoot turns 80 on November 17, the landmark birthday will find him doing what he’s excelled at most all of his life: creating and performing his music of exceptional quality and appeal. In the middle of a North American tour, Lightfoot is scheduled to celebrate his special day with a stop in Orillia, Ontario (where he was born), for a sold out headlining benefit show. The acknowledged favorite songwriter of Bob Dylan and hailed by fellow Canadian Robbie Robertson as a “national treasure,” he boasts countless awards including being inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, numerous multi-platinum albums, and chart-topping hits that are known and loved worldwide.
His indelible classics, such as “Sundown” (#1), “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” (#2) and “If You Could Read My Mind” (#5), have been recorded by such fellow legends as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Hank Williams Jr., Jerry Lee Lewis, Harry Belafonte, Peter, Paul and Mary, Glen Campbell, Herb Alpert, Johnny Mathis, Olivia Newton-John, Jimmy Buffett and many other famed musical acts. Dylan regularly performs Lightfoot’s composition “Shadows,” Paul Simon and Billy Joel have included his tunes in their shows, and when Toby Keith does his surprise small venue/barroom appearances playing cover songs as the Incognito Bandito, “Sundown” is always on the set list.
He has earned four gold albums, two platinum and one double platinum sales awards in America and nine gold, four platinum and three double platinum in his native Canada. Lightfoot continues to win adoring audience receptions and fervent calls for encores along with laudatory reviews for his concerts, playing some 80 shows annually.
Gordon Lightfoot tour dates:
11/16 Oshawa, ON Tribute Communities Center
11/17 Orillia, ON Orillia Opera House
11/18 Ottawa, ON National Arts Center
11/22 Kitchener, ON Centre In The Square
11/23 Peterborough, ON Peterborough Memorial Centre
11/24 London, ON Budweiser Gardens
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