At eighteen he went to Westlake College of Music in Hollywood to study jazz composition and orchestration, which I can't honestly say I hear a lot of in his music. He was a boy chorister in Orillia, and by the age of twelve singing in Toronto, at Massey Hall. His first public solo performance was in Grade Four, over the school's PA system for Parents' Day, singing 'Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral', an early example (1913) of a commercial pop song that everybody thinks is a ancient traditional tune, which isn't bad practice for a chap who'd eventually emerge in the 'folk revival' of the early Sixties. Gordon Lightfoot Sr owned a large dry cleaner's, and Mrs Lightfoot thought Junior had the makings of a child star. Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr was born on November 17th 1938 in Orillia, Ontario, which is a straight shot north of Toronto, although you'll be driving your Honda Civic through Lake Simcoe if you try it as the crow flies. Here is what Mark had to say about him on the occasion of his eightieth birthday: He died, for real, a few days before the Coronation, having been garlanded with every bauble in the gift of his native land - Commander of the Order of Canada, recipient of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal - and honoured by his peers around the world. But Lightfoot kept on, to the office, and to new tour dates and live albums - for almost another decade-and-a-half. In such circumstances, most of us would turn round and go back to bed. On February 18th 2010 Gordon Lightfoot was driving in Toronto en route to the office when he heard on the radio that he had died.

Wench With Wings by Rose D. Cassidy