Gordon Lightfoot hospitalized

Singer Gordon Lightfoot hospitalized
September 8, 2002 Posted: 12:48 PM EDT (1648 GMT)

ORILLIA, Ontario (CNN) -- Singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot was hospitalized over the weekend for an undisclosed reason.

Lightfoot, 63, was taken Saturday night to the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital in his hometown of Orillia, about 90 miles north of Toronto, hospital spokeswoman Sharon Burkhart said. He was transferred early Sunday to McMaster University Medical Centre in Hamilton.

Burkhart would not divulge the singer's condition, and his family has requested that no further information be released, she said.

Lightfoot hit the U.S. pop charts in 1970 with the song "If You Could Read My Mind." His 1976 ballad about the sinking of a Great Lakes cargo ship, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," reached No. 2 on the Billboard charts.

He has won 17 Juno awards, the Canadian music industry's top honor.

 

I hope he's OK..Obviously somethings wrong. Keep us posted if you hear anything.

 

OK, I will.

 

I just watched a Lightfoot report/update on CBC Newsworld (Canadian equivalent of CNN).

Lightfoot was taken to hospital last night as he was to perform a concert in Orillia, with acute stomach pain. Longtime friend and band member Rick Haynes (interviewed in a small scrum outside the hospital) said everyone was up all night, but that Gordon is stable and recovering now, according to doctors.

I hope it was something minor.

Cheers.

 

Thanks for the updates, and keep us posted please!

Gardo

 

Thanks! Rick's a nice guy and fine bass player.

 

Two updates, one from Sept. 10 from www.therecord.com
and one today, Sept. 13 from CNN's entertainment news.

THE RECORD
Gordon Lightfoot showing signs of improvement after surgery, hospital says Wednesday September 10, 2002 - 17:14:39 EST

HAMILTON (CP) - Gordon Lightfoot showed signs of improvement Tuesday, several days after being admitted to hospital with severe abdominal pains, hospital staff said.
"While he's still in the ICU and still very serious, although stable, he is showing signs of improvement," said Jeff Vallentin, director of communications at Hamilton Health Sciences hospital. "The last many hours have been very encouraging for both the health professionals and the family."

The critically acclaimed singer-songwriter, whose hits include Sundown, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald and If You Could Read My Mind, was flown to the hospital by air ambulance from Orillia, Ont., early Sunday after being forced to cancel a Saturday evening performance.

His surgeon, a gastointestinal specialist, says Lightfoot has a weak blood vessel in his abdomen and was bleeding internally.

The hospital said updates on Lightfoot's condition would be posted on the hospital's Web site at www.hamiltonhealthsciences.ca.

CNN Entertainment News
Lightfoot making progress, still in ICU

September 13, 2002 Posted: 10:26 AM EDT (1426 GMT)
HAMILTON, Ontario (CNN)
-- Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot is "making
good progress" but remains in intensive care five days after he
entered a hospital with severe abdominal pain, hospital officials
said Thursday.

One day at a time.

 

I'll be rootin for him! Gordon was an important musical figure in my early music days. I hope he makes a painless recovery.