Celebrity

Folk Singer-Songwriter Gordon Lightfoot Dies At 84

Published

2 years ago

2023-05-02

TORONTO, Ontario — Gordon Lightfoot, the folk singer-songwriter known for songs like “If You Could Read My Mind” and “Sundown,” as well as songs on Canadian identity, died on Monday. He was 84.

According to Representative Victoria Lord, the musician died at a Toronto hospital. His death cause was not immediately known.

Lightfoot was one of the most well-known voices to emerge from Toronto’s Yorkville folk club scene in the 1960s, recording 20 studio albums and writing hundreds of songs, including “Carefree Highway,” “Early Morning Rain,” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

Lightfoot had five Grammy nominations, three platinum records, and nine gold records for albums and songs in the 1970s. He played almost 1500 shows and recorded 500 songs.

He toured in his later years. He recently canceled future gigs in the United States and Canada, citing health concerns.

“We have lost one of our greatest singer-songwriters,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Twitter. “Gordon Lightfoot captured the spirit of our country in his music, and in doing so, he helped shape Canada’s soundscape.” May his music inspire future generations, and may his legacy live on in perpetuity.”

Numerous musicians, including Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Harry Belafonte, Johnny Cash, Anne Murray, Jane’s Addiction, and Sarah McLachlan, have recorded Lightfoot. Bob Dylan even referred to him as a “rare talent.”

Most of his songs are extremely autobiographical, with lyrics that frankly probe his experiences and discuss topics surrounding Canadian national identity. “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” depicted the railway’s construction.

“I just write songs about where I am and where I came from,” he previously explained. “I take real-life situations and write poems about them.”

Lightfoot’s music had its distinct style. “It’s not country, folk, or rock,” he declared in an interview in 2000. Nonetheless, it contains strains of all three.

“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” is a mournful homage to the 29 men who died in the ship’s sinking in Lake Superior during a storm in 1975.

Lightfoot had five Grammy nominations, three platinum records, and nine gold records for albums and songs in the 1970s. He played almost 1500 shows and recorded 500 songs.

While his parents recognized his musical abilities early on, Lightfoot did not set out to become a famous balladeer.

He started singing in his church choir and aspired to be a jazz musician. At 13, the soprano won a talent competition at Toronto’s Massey Hall’s Kiwanis Music Festival.

“I remember the thrill of being in front of a crowd,” Lightfoot remarked in an interview in 2018. “It was like a stepping stone for me…”

The appeal of those early days lingered, and his barbershop quartet, The Collegiate Four, won a CBC talent competition in high school. In 1956, he strummed his first guitar and began dabbling in music in the following months. He flunked algebra the first time, possibly due to his musical tastes. He graduated in 1957 after retaking the class.

Lightfoot had already written his first serious work, “The Hula Hoop Song,” inspired by the popular toy at the time. Attempts to market the tune were futile, so at 18, he moved to the United States to study music for a year. The trip was partially sponsored by money saved from a job transporting linens to resorts near his hometown.

However, life in Hollywood was not for Lightfoot, and he soon returned to Canada. He promised to travel to Toronto to pursue his musical dreams, accepting any job he could find, including a job at a bank, until obtaining a role as a square dancer on CBC’s “Country Hoedown.”

His first job was at Fran’s Restaurant, a downtown family-run café that appreciated his folk inclinations. He met fellow musician Ronnie Hawkins there.

The singer was living with a few buddies in a condemned building in Yorkville, which was then a bohemian neighborhood where future stars like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell learned their trade in smoke-filled bars.

Lightfoot made his radio breakthrough with the single “(Remember Me) I’m the One” in 1962.

Lightfoot made his radio breakthrough with the single “(Remember Me) I’m the One” in 1962, which led to a string of hit tunes and collaborations with other local performers. Lightfoot bonded with the Mariposa Folk Festival in his hometown of Orillia, Ontario, that same year and became the festival’s most devoted returning artist.

By 1964, he spread positive word of mouth around town, and audiences began to assemble in greater numbers. The next year, Lightfoot’s song “I’m Not Sayin'” became a smash in Canada, helping to expand his popularity in the United States.

Several other artists’ covers didn’t hurt, either. Marty Robbins’ 1965 rendition of “Ribbon of Darkness” achieved No. 1 on the country charts in the United States, while Peter, Paul, and Mary charted Lightfoot’s original, “For Lovin’ Me,” in the United States. Hundreds of other musicians have covered the tune, which Dylan once claimed he wished he had recorded.

Lightfoot performed at the Newport Folk Festival that summer, the same year Dylan shocked audiences by ditching his folkie character in favor of an electric guitar.

As the folk music boom ended in the late 1960s, Lightfoot was already easing into pop music.

He earned his debut Billboard chart appearance in 1971 with “If You Could Read My Mind.” It peaked at No. 5 and has generated a slew of covers since.

Lightfoot’s success peaked in the mid-1970s when “Sundown,” his song and album, topped the Billboard charts for the first and only time.

Lightfoot won 12 Juno Awards during his career, including one in 1970 when it was known as the Gold Leaf.

He was inducted into the Canadian Recording Industry Hall of Fame, now known as the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, in 1986. He was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001 after receiving the Governor General’s Award in 1997.

SOURCE – (AP)

Celebrity

Jason Kelce Smashes Football Fan’s Phone

Published

3 weeks ago

2024-11-02

Geoff Brown

Jason Kelce Smashes College Football Fan's Phone

Retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce destroyed a Penn State football fan’s phone after the alleged heckler called his brother, Travis Kelce, a fag.

In now-viral footage published on X (previously Twitter) on Saturday, Nov. 2, the retired Philadelphia Eagles great was seen accompanied by football fans outside Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa., for the Penn State-Ohio State game.

As the individual capturing the tape lifted a fist to Jason, 36, and called his name for a fist bump, another man nearby hurled the homophobic slur at the retired Philadelphia Eagles star.

Hey, Kelce. How does it feel that your brother is a queer dating Taylor Swift?” the man questioned, referring to Travis, 34, who has been seeing Swift since 2023. Jason turned around seconds later, snatched the man’s phone, and crushed it to the ground.

“Looked like a Penn State student was getting in Kelce’s face for no reason,” the original X user who submitted the video remarked. “Wild scene in State College.”

“Kelce how does it feel that your brother is a f****t for dating Taylor Swift?”

Jason Kelce proceeded to slam this kids phone on the ground.

Looked like a Penn State student was getting in Kelce’s face for no reason. Wild scene in State College pic.twitter.com/3PEdZXWhSg

— Chives (@jarrett_daveler) November 2, 2024

Additional footage on X shows Jason smashing the phone on asphalt before picking it up and walking away. The phone’s owner, wearing a Penn State hoodie at the time of the incident, was shown in many videos strolling closely behind Jason and recording him before the conflict occurred.

Another footage published on X, which appears to have been filmed after Jason shattered the man’s phone, showed the hooded Penn State supporter trudging through a mob to pick up his phone off the ground.

“Give me my phone, bro,” he seemed to say to Jason.

The NFL alum seized the gadget first, then stood in front of the man and asked, “Who’s the fag now?” Others appeared to interfere.

The incident occurred while Jason was at Beaver Stadium for an appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay. The Ohio State Buckeyes won Saturday’s game 20-13 over the Penn State Nittany Lions.

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Celebrity

Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold

Published

3 weeks ago

2024-10-30

Kiara Grace

Shaun White, the Olympic snowboarding champion, already has an impressive medal tally, but his surprise proposal to Nina Dobrev deserves a gold medal.

On Wednesday, the couple announced their engagement on Instagram. Dobrev posted photographs of the two hugging under an arch of white roses and showing off her five-carat Lorraine Schwartz engagement ring.

“RIP boyfriend, hello fiancé,” Dobrev said in the caption.

However, the photographs only tell half the tale, as Shaun devised an elaborate plan to surprise Dobrev with his proposal.

Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold

According to a Vogue interview published Wednesday, Shaun said he assembled a team of people from the couple’s inner circle and Vogue personnel to trick Dobrev into thinking she had been invited to an intimate dinner party with Anna Wintour.

White claimed that his publicist emailed Dobrev a forged invitation to the event, which was scheduled to take place at the Golden Swan in New York City.

Dobrev accepted the invitation, joking that Shaun made it “look so legitimate.”

He even asked Dobrev’s stylist to outfit her in Chanel for the event.

Dobrev said she recognized what was happening when she entered the venue and saw White standing beneath the flowery arch.

Shaun’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold

“I went into shock,” Dobrev admitted, later adding that White “said all the right things” before she agreed.

According to the publication, after Shaun proposed, the couple partied into the early morning hours with close friends and relatives.

“Best night of my life,” Shaun captioned his Instagram story on Wednesday.

The duo first became romantically involved in 2020, and they have since publicly recorded their relationship, globe vacations, and White’s Olympic farewell on social media.

SOURCE | CNN

Celebrity

Hollywood Actress Teri Garr Passes Away at 79

Published

3 weeks ago

2024-10-30

Geoff Brown

Hollywood Actress Teri Garr Passes Away at 79

Teri Garr, known for her roles in classics like "Young Frankenstein" and "Tootsie," has passed away at 79.

Hollywood actress Teri Garr, known for her roles in classics like “Young Frankenstein” and “Tootsie,” has passed away at 79. She died Tuesday of multiple sclerosis “surrounded by family and friends,” said publicist Heidi Schaeffer.

Admirers took to social media in her honor, with writer-director Paul Feig calling her “truly one of my comedy heroes. I couldn’t have loved her more” and screenwriter Cinco Paul saying: “Never the star, but always shining. She made everything she was in better.”

Throughout her career, the performer, often known as Terri, Terry, or Terry Ann, seemed destined for show business from a young age.

Her father was Eddie Garr, a well-known vaudeville comic, and her mother was Phyllis Lind, one of the original high-kicking Rockettes at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Their daughter began dancing classes at six and was performing with the San Francisco and Los Angeles ballet companies by age fourteen.

She was 16 years old when she joined the road crew of “West Side Story” in Los Angeles, and she began starring in small roles in films as early as 1963.

In an interview from 1988, she described how she landed the role in “West Side Story.” After being rejected at her initial audition, she returned the following day dressed differently and was accepted.

Teri Garr, a comedian

Teri Garr then found steady work as a movie dancer, appearing in the chorus of nine Elvis Presley films, including “Viva Las Vegas,” “Roustabout,” and “Clambake.”

She has also appeared on various television shows, including “Star Trek,” “Dr. Kildare,” and “Batman,” and was a featured dancer on the rock ‘n’ roll music show “Shindig,” the rock concert performance “T.A.M.I.,” and a cast member of “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.”

Her breakthrough role was as Gene Hackman’s girlfriend in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 thriller The Conversation. This led to an interview with Mel Brooks, who offered her the Gene Wilder’s German lab assistant role in Young Frankenstein if she could speak with a German accent.

“Cher had this German woman, Renata, making wigs, so I got the accent from her,” Garr once said.

The film established her as a great comic performer, with New Yorker film writer Pauline Kael calling her “the funniest neurotic dizzy dame on screen.”

Her big smile and off-center appeal helped her land roles in “Oh, God!” with George Burns and John Denver, “Mr. Mom” (as Michael Keaton’s wife), and “Tootsie,” in which she played the girlfriend who loses Dustin Hoffman to Jessica Lange and discovers he has dressed up as a woman to revive his career.

A gift for spontaneous humor

Teri Garr, best known for comedy, has shown in films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Black Stallion, and The Escape Artist that she can also tackle drama.

She had a gift for spontaneous humor, frequently playing David Letterman’s foil during early guest appearances on N.B.C.’s “Late Night With David Letterman”.

Her appearances grew so frequent, and the pair’s good-natured bickering so convincing that rumors of romantic involvement circulated for a while. Years later, Letterman acknowledged those early appearances with helping the program become a success.

During those years, Garr began to experience “a little beeping or ticking” in her right leg. It started in 1983 and expanded to her right arm, but she thought she could handle it. By 1999, her symptoms had gotten so bad that she saw a doctor and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

After disclosing her diagnosis, Garr became a spokesman for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, giving hilarious remarks at events in the United States and Canada.

Source: AP
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