LOUDSPEAKERS: Does the Totem Mani-2 still rate as one of the ...
LOUDSPEAKERS: Does the Totem Mani-2 still rate as one of the ...
LOUDSPEAKERS: Does the Totem Mani-2 still rate as one of the ...
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S<strong>of</strong>tware<br />
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his winning performance at Toronto’s<br />
fabled M<strong>as</strong>sey Hall.<br />
Inaugu<strong>rate</strong>d in 1894 and renovated<br />
several times since, M<strong>as</strong>sey Hall is<br />
already celeb<strong>rate</strong>d for <strong>the</strong> artistic events<br />
held <strong>the</strong>re. Our young artist will make<br />
singing <strong>the</strong>re a habit. In <strong>the</strong> meantime,<br />
to his piano courses he adds guitar lessons<br />
and becomes a self-taught drummer<br />
<strong>as</strong> well. Despite his youth he is <strong>of</strong>ten<br />
invited to sing on <strong>the</strong> radio, and in<br />
oratorios and operett<strong>as</strong>.<br />
In 1955 he writes his very first song.<br />
He is <strong>the</strong>n all <strong>of</strong> 17.<br />
After high school he goes to Los<br />
Angeles to study jazz orchestration<br />
at <strong>the</strong> Westlake College <strong>of</strong> Modern<br />
Music. Back in Canada, from 1958<br />
to 1961, he becomes a member <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
Swinging Eight, who <strong>of</strong>ten perform on<br />
CBC’s Country Hoedown. That leads to<br />
numerous guest spots. He also becomes<br />
a member <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Gino Silvi Singers, <strong>the</strong><br />
house chorale <strong>of</strong> CBC-TV’s Juliette. He<br />
forms a duo with Terry Whelan, <strong>the</strong><br />
Two T<strong>one</strong>s, and in 1962 records two<br />
live albums. The same year he sings at<br />
4 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine<br />
<strong>the</strong> Mariposa Folk Festival, founded in<br />
his home town <strong>of</strong> Orillia, which brings<br />
toge<strong>the</strong>r Canadian and international<br />
folk-oriented artists. Over <strong>the</strong> years<br />
<strong>the</strong> festival will go through successive<br />
changes in name and orientation, but it<br />
will survive, and Gordon Lightfoot will<br />
sing <strong>the</strong>re <strong>of</strong>ten, alongside such artists<br />
<strong>as</strong> Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez.<br />
The summer <strong>of</strong> 1963 finds Lightfoot<br />
in England, where he hosts <strong>the</strong> Country<br />
and Western Show on TV.<br />
His career is rolling now.<br />
A phenomenal <strong>as</strong>cension<br />
One evening, in <strong>one</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> c<strong>of</strong>fee<br />
houses that are everywhere in <strong>the</strong> 60’s,<br />
Lightfoot is noticed by a talent scout<br />
who is charmed by his fine barit<strong>one</strong><br />
voice and his expressiveness, and <strong>of</strong>fers<br />
to let him be heard on disc. He records<br />
half a dozen songs, two <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m his own<br />
compositions: The Long River and Betty<br />
Mae’s a Good Time Gal. It is about at <strong>the</strong><br />
same time that this handsome young<br />
man with <strong>the</strong> imposing presence begins<br />
to sing his own songs and accompany<br />
himself on <strong>the</strong> guitar. He is seen more<br />
and more <strong>of</strong>ten at folk music events in<br />
Ontario, Quebec and <strong>the</strong> e<strong>as</strong>tern USA,<br />
and <strong>of</strong> course at <strong>the</strong> Mariposa Festival.<br />
Ian Tyson and his <strong>the</strong>n wife Sylvia,<br />
a Canadian folk duo internationally<br />
popular under <strong>the</strong> name Ian and Sylvia,<br />
are <strong>the</strong> first to record Lightfoot’s songs,<br />
including Early Morning Rain and For<br />
Lovin’ Me, which become hits. It’s<br />
enough for New York agent Albert<br />
Grossman to sign him to a recording<br />
contract at United Artists.<br />
Grossman will play a particularly<br />
significant role in <strong>the</strong> development <strong>of</strong><br />
Lightfoot’s career, for he is also Bob<br />
Dylan’s agent, and he encourages him to<br />
move, like Dylan, to <strong>the</strong> pop-rock genre.<br />
His music will <strong>still</strong>, however, contain<br />
elements <strong>of</strong> folk and country, and he will<br />
be at e<strong>as</strong>e moving from <strong>one</strong> to ano<strong>the</strong>r.<br />
Early Morning Rain h<strong>as</strong> a wider international<br />
career too, becoming a hit for<br />
French chansonnier Joe D<strong>as</strong>sin under <strong>the</strong><br />
title Dans la brume du matin.<br />
The year 1965 is a major <strong>one</strong> for<br />
Lightfoot. He sings at <strong>the</strong> Newport<br />
Folk Festival in Rhode Island and in<br />
New York City, and Marty Robbins will<br />
sing his Ribbon <strong>of</strong> Darkness, a song about<br />
a man pained by <strong>the</strong> loss <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> woman<br />
he loves.<br />
Ribbon <strong>of</strong> darkness over me<br />
Since my true love walked out <strong>the</strong> door<br />
Tears I never had before<br />
In Canada, Spin Spin is a major success,<br />
and I’m Not Saying will be his first<br />
chart hit. That song is popularized in <strong>the</strong><br />
US by country star Leroy Van Dyke.<br />
Continuing his phenomenal rise,<br />
he reaches new audiences thanks to his<br />
songs being picked up by such established<br />
stars <strong>as</strong> Harry Belafonte, Anne<br />
Murray and Nana Mouskouri. Famed<br />
US country singer George Hamilton IV<br />
brings out an LP <strong>of</strong> his songs, Lightfoot<br />
Country. Richie Havens and The Kingston<br />
Trio sing Lightfoot too.<br />
In 1966, with <strong>the</strong> rele<strong>as</strong>e <strong>of</strong> his selftitled<br />
album, Lightfoot becomes <strong>one</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> first Canadian singers to know glory<br />
in his own country without having to<br />
move to <strong>the</strong> United States. The album<br />
will make him even better known <strong>as</strong> a<br />
songwriter, and his songs are picked up<br />
by Petula Clark, Stompin’ Tom Connors,<br />
Johnny C<strong>as</strong>h, Jerry Lee Lewis,