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Gordon Lightfoot takes his energy on the road
By Ted Shaw, PN April 22, 2011 5:33 PM •Story•Photos ( 2 )
More Images » Canadian music legend Gordon Lightfoot is gearing up for a Canadian tour.Photograph by: john kenney, montreal gazette
People have been writing off Gordon Lightfoot for years, but the singer isn’t buying any of it.
In fact, he works out regularly at a gym near his Toronto home so he can stay in shape for his concerts.
“I’ve got to go full energy,” the 72-year-old Lightfoot said, “or I just won’t do it.”
Even now, he’s fully engaged in rehearsals for an Ontario tour that starts May 19 at Windsor’s WFCU Centre. The tour will culminate at the end of the month with his annual series of concerts at Toronto’s Massey Hall.
Then it’s back to the gym to train over the summer for a more extensive fall tour of the U.S. and Canada.
“I’m not getting any younger, you know,” he said. “I have learned how much working out helps. I’m going to be 73 in November, and I want to continue to do great shows.”
The May tour will be first one without longtime lead guitarist, Terry Clements, who died of a heart attack in February. He was just 63.
But Lightfoot himself has been defying the odds since the 1970s. He survived two serious health setbacks in 2002 and 2006, and last year, even overcame a vicious hoax on Twitter that said he had died.
News outlets reported it, until Lightfoot got on the radio and said his death was greatly exaggerated.
“There was one good thing about that,” he said laughing. “I got my picture on the front page of the Toronto Sun. The headline said, ‘Dead Wrong.’”
Yet even he had to admit that close encounter with the Grim Reaper in 2002 was scary. While in hometown Orillia, Ont., for some concert dates, he suffered severe stomach pains and had to be rushed to hospital with a ruptured aorta in his abdomen. It required surgery and several followup operations. He was laid up for months.
“That one just about did me in,” Lightfoot said.
It turned out to be the longest hiatus of his career. He was out of commission for two years, and the experience convinced him to give up making records in favour of just doing concerts.
“We only do shows now, no recordings. It’s a bit of relief. I have no obligations (to record companies) now.”
Lightfoot was invited to sign another contract with Warner Brothers, his label for 14 albums between 1971 and 1998. But he declined.
“I sort of decided at the time I would have to back off,” he said. His third marriage had hit a rough patch, and he wanted to spend more time with the family.
During that period, Linus Entertainment signed a deal with Lightfoot’s publishing company, Early Morning Productions, to issue one last studio recording — Harmony. It came out in 2004 and contained music recorded before the illness.
It was then he also adopted an exercise regimen.
“The reason I do it is because I know how much it helps,” he said. “I’ve learned that the combination of the two things, the workouts and the performing, help me stay strong.”
He suffered another setback in the fall of 2006. He was touring the U.S. Midwest when he collapsed while preparing for a concert in Escanaba, Michigan. A couple of days later, it was determined he’d had a stroke.
“The neurologist told me I was lucky the stroke didn’t occur a quarter of a centimetre to the right, or I’d have lost my speech,” he said.
As it was, Lightfoot briefly lost the use of his right hand: “I led the band with body language,” he said.
The health problems actually go back as far as 1972, when Lightfoot had Bell’s palsy that caused temporary paralysis in his face.
“I bounced back from that one pretty fast, though. There was a bit of a speech problem, but I was back performing after three months.”
Lightfoot plays through his injuries and illness, like a seasoned athlete.
Lately, he has been experiencing hearing problems.
“I have this recurring thing with my inner ear,” he said. While on stage, he can hear the music produced by fellow members of the band, but he can’t hear his own guitar.
“It’s disturbing,” he said, “because I have to guess where the notes are.”
It doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does, he just fakes it: “It’s a good thing I have such a good band, so they can cover up for me.”
Lightfoot said he enjoys performing too much to ever think about giving it up.
“I love it, I really do. Much of my time now is spent concentrating on the details of the live show. I’m a stickler for detail.”
He rehearsed with Clements right up to two days before he died, he said.
“I went way back with Terry. I brought him up here from the States, back in 1971. It was sad, of course, but we could see it coming for the last year and a half.”
Almost every day when he’s home, Lightfoot puts in office hours in the morning and works out in the afternoon. Then it’s rehearsals in his home studio.
“I did 81 shows last year,” he said. “None of that would be possible if I didn’t stay on top of things and do the workouts.”
Health problems are inevitable for someone his age. But they don’t worry him.
“Whatever happens, I’d make my way back. I’d find a way to get the job done.”
Gordon Lightfoot plays Calgary Nov. 28. Tickets at Ticketmaster.
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