page_title: Gordon Lightfoot
section_title: United Artists years
hierarchical_section_title: Gordon Lightfoot / United Artists years
caption_attribution_description: English: Singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, right, at a record industry luncheon in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
context_page_description: Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. CC OOnt is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s. He is often referred to as Canada's greatest songwriter and is known internationally as a folk-rock legend.
  Lightfoot's songs, including "For Lovin' Me", "Early Morning Rain", "Steel Rail Blues", "Ribbon of Darkness"—a number one hit on the U.S. country chart with Marty Robbins's cover in 1965—and "Black Day in July" about the 1967 Detroit riot, brought him wide recognition in the 1960s. Canadian chart success with his own recordings began in 1962 with the No. 3 hit " I'm the One", followed by recognition and charting abroad in the 1970s. He topped the US Hot 100 or AC chart with the hits "If You Could Read My Mind", "Sundown"; "Carefree Highway", "Rainy Day People", and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", and had many other hits that appeared in the top 40.
  Several of Lightfoot's albums achieved gold and multi-platinum status internationally.
context_section_description: In 1965, Lightfoot signed a management contract with Albert Grossman, who also represented many prominent American folk performers, and signed a recording contract with United Artists who released his version of "I'm Not Sayin'" as a single. Appearances at the Newport Folk Festival, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and New York's Town Hall increased his following and bolstered his reputation. 1966 marked the release of his debut album Lightfoot!, which brought him greater exposure as both a singer and a songwriter. The album featured many now-famous songs, including "For Lovin' Me," "Early Mornin' Rain," "Steel Rail Blues," and "Ribbon of Darkness". On the strength of the Lightfoot! album, which blended Canadian and universal themes, Lightfoot became one of the first Canadian singers to achieve definitive home-grown stardom without having moved permanently to the United States to develop it.
  To kick off Canada's Centennial year, the CBC commissioned Lightfoot to write the "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" for a special broadcast on January 1, 1967.  Between 1966 and 1969, Lightfoot recorded four additional albums for United Artists: The Way I Feel (1967), Did She Mention My Name? (1968), Back Here on Earth (1968), and the live recording Sunday Concert (1969), and consistently placed singles in the Canadian top 40, including "Go-Go Round", "Spin, Spin", and "The Way I Feel". His biggest hit of the era was a rendition of Bob Dylan's "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues", which peaked at No. 3 on the Canadian charts in December 1965. Did She Mention My Name? featured "Black Day in July", about the 1967 Detroit riot.  The following April 4, Dr. Martin Luther King was murdered; radio stations in 30 states pulled the song for "fanning the flames", even though the song was a plea for racial harmony.  Lightfoot stated at the time radio station owners cared more about playing songs "that make people happy" and not those "that make people think."  Unhappy at a lack of support from United Artists, he defected to Warner Bros. Records, scoring his first major international hit in early 1971 with "If You Could Read My Mind".
  Lightfoot's albums from this time were well received abroad but did not produce any hit singles. Outside of Canada, he remained better known as a songwriter than as a performer.
  His success as a live performer continued to grow throughout the late 1960s. He embarked on his first Canadian national tour in 1967, and also performed in New York City. Between 1967 and 1974, Lightfoot toured Europe and was well-received on two tours of Australia.
  UA continued to release "Best of" album compilations in the 1970s even after Lightfoot became a subsequent success at Warner Bros./Reprise.
caption: Lightfoot, right, at a music industry function in Toronto in 1965
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