Lightfoot in Brighton for sold-out show Sunday
 

http://www.livingstondaily.com/artic...ut-show-Sunday


Folk music icon Gordon Lightfoot has overcome multiple health challenges to stay on the road, including Sunday's performance at the Brighton Center for the Performing Arts.

Lightfoot, known for a litany of hit songs, including "Sundown," "Early Morning Rain," "If You Could Read My Mind" and the legendary "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," will kick off the performing arts center's 2012-2013 season.

Lightfoot performs at 8 p.m. Sunday at the center, 7878 Brighton Road in Brighton.

The Brighton show — which is sold out — will be one of about 50 Lightfoot shows this year, and one of 14 shows on a 17-day U.S. tour.

As he approached age 70, Lightfoot overcame paralysis in his right hand following a stroke, as well as temporary deafness and a debilitating stomach illness.

In 2004, Lightfoot released "Harmony," his most recent album of new material.

He recorded "Harmony" in hurried fashion while recuperating from numerous surgeries over a 19-month period. It took him 28 months to return to the stage, with his first show at the hospital that cared for him.

In a Daily Press & Argus interview, Lightfoot said "the gift" is his 220 recorded songs to choose from for each performance.

After a career spanning five decades, no venue is too big or too small for Lightfoot, who will play primarily his hits in Brighton.

"Whether it be in Brighton or whether it be at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England, it will not make any difference to us because we always go full-blast," Lightfoot said from his home in Canada.

"We are enthusiastic, and we are prepared, and we are excited. Wherever we go and whatever we do, Brighton's going to get the best show that we can possibly give them," he added.

In past decades, Lightfoot's music been has recorded and revered by legends including Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Glen Campbell and Peter Paul & Mary. More recently, country artist Toby Keith and pop artist Sarah McLachlan have covered his songs.

For more information, visit www.brightonperformingarts.com or call (810) 299-4130, then dial 0.

Contact Daily Press & Argus reporter Christopher Behnan at (517) 548-7108 or at cbehnan@gannett.com.