Kingston, Ont. music and arts world remembers Gordon Lightfoot

Tributes to the legendary Gordon Lightfoot CTV's Kimberley Johnson with the powerful impact left on Canadians by iconic folk artist Gordon Lightfoot.

Gordon Lightfoot was a major source of inspiration for musicians and poets alike around the world, and those in eastern Ontario are remembering the icon and thanking him for his work.

Lightfoot’s baritone voice and timeless lyrics touched generations of fans in his decades on the stage.

A Canadian and world icon, Lightfoot could play any stage around the world, but still chose to make time for local venues like Kingston’s Grand Theatre in 2017.

Jayson Duggan, the Grand’s performing arts manager, says the event quickly sold out.

“The passion of his music still transcends through the years,” he explains. “That’s why the fans continued to come back again and again and again. They wanted to see him on stage; they wanted that wonderful comfort that came with his performance style.”

Considered to be one of the most renowned voices in the 1960s and 70s, Lightfoot recorded 20 studio albums and penned hundreds of songs. He inspired generations of Canadian musicians.

After learning the news, the Tragically Hip tweeted that he was always a supportive friend.

“He was and always will be a great artist and one of the finest songwriters to ever grace a stage,” they wrote.

Bryan Adams tweeted that he called Lightfoot a friend.

Humble from the beginning, even at the height of fame, in the 1960s, at 16 years old, Kingston poet Carolyn Smart says she knocked on Lightfoot’s door with her friends, to tell him she was a fan, and was invited in for a cup of tea.

“He just spent time kindly talking to people as much as he possibly could, and that was remarkable about him,” she says.

Inspired to write a poem about it, she was able to read it to him at his 75th birthday celebration in 2014, after it was included in a book called 50+ Poems for Gordon Lightfoot, and decades later, she says he was still the same person.

“I talk about this in the poem, that he was ‘golden’, he was superb,” she says.

Whether through songwriters or poets, Lightfoot’s legacy is living on as he takes his final bow.