Editing Gordon Lightfoot (section)

==Early life, family and education==
Lightfoot was born in [[Orillia]], Ontario, on November 17, 1938,<ref name="globegazette.com">{{Cite web |title=Kim Hasse and Gordon Lightfoot &#124; Celebrations |url=https://globegazette.com/extras/celebrations/2_col_bw/kim-hasse-and-gordon-lightfoot/article_7160f904-6268-5249-94b9-3b60abb97b3a.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=September 26, 2021 |website=Globegazette.com|date=December 27, 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Warner |first=Andrea |date=November 15, 2018 |title=10 things you need to know about Gordon Lightfoot on his 80th birthday |url=https://www.cbc.ca/music/read/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-gordon-lightfoot-on-his-80th-birthday-1.5018248 |accessdate=November 13, 2021 |website=CBC Music |publisher=}}</ref> to Jessie Vick Trill Lightfoot and Gordon Lightfoot Sr.,<ref name="globegazette.com"/> who owned a local dry cleaning business.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Jennings |first=Nicholas |date=May 1, 2023 |title=Gordon Lightfoot, the Canadian bard, wrote the tune for a nation's identity |language=en-CA |work=The Globe and Mail |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/article-gordon-lightfoot-the-canadian-bard-wrote-the-tune-for-a-nations/ |access-date=May 2, 2023}}</ref> He was of [[Scottish Canadians|Scottish]] descent.<ref>{{cite web |last1= Loewenthal |first1=Robyn |title= Lightfoot Back on Track With Fresh Outlook |url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-25-ca-3770-story.html#:~:text=Is%20Lightfoot%20a%20Native%20American%20last%20name%3F&text=A%3A%20I'm%20Scottish%20all,%2C%20but%20I'm%20Scottish. |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=April 25, 1996 |access-date= November 20, 2022}}</ref> He had an older sister, Beverley (1935–2017).<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.legacy.com/ca/obituaries/thestar/name/beverley-eyers-obituary?id=42087953 |title=Beverley Joan Lightfoot Eyers |newspaper=Toronto Star |date=December 22, 2017}}</ref> His mother recognized Lightfoot's musical talent early on and schooled him to become a successful child performer. He first performed publicly in grade four, singing the Irish-American [[lullaby]] "[[Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral]]", which was broadcast over his school's public address system<ref name=":1" /> during a parents' day event.<ref name="larrywayneclark.com">{{cite web |url= http://www.larrywayneclark.com/lightfoot.html |title=Gordon Lightfoot—Portrait of a Painter |website= Larrywayneclark.com |access-date= April 13, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100702050944/http://www.larrywayneclark.com/lightfoot.html |archive-date=July 2, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

As a youth, he sang in the choir of Orillia's St. Paul's United Church under the direction of choirmaster Ray Williams. Lightfoot credited Williams with teaching him to sing with emotion and to have confidence in his voice.<ref>{{cite news | last =MacFarlane| first = David | title= Gordon Lightfoot| work = [[The United Church Observer]]| date = January 2006}}</ref> Lightfoot was a [[boy soprano]]; he appeared periodically on local Orillia radio, performed in local operettas and oratorios, and gained exposure through various [[Kiwanis]] music festivals. At the age of twelve, after winning a competition for boys whose voices had not yet changed, he made his first appearance at [[Massey Hall]] in Toronto, a venue he would ultimately play over 170 more times throughout his career.<ref>{{cite news |first=Kenyon |last=Wallace |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2023/05/01/those-stories-and-that-voice-why-gordon-lightfoots-music-hit-home-for-me-and-so-many-canadians.html |title=Those stories and that voice. Why Gordon Lightfoot's music hit home for me and so many Canadians |work=[[Toronto Star]] |date=May 1, 2023}}</ref>

As a teenager, Lightfoot learned piano and taught himself to play drums and percussion. He performed live in [[District Municipality of Muskoka|Muskoka]], a resort area north of Orillia, singing "for a couple of beers".<ref>{{cite web| title =After 'Sundown,' Gordon Lightfoot makes up for lost time |url= http://www.corfid.com/gl/press/press26.htm| website=Corfid.com| access-date= March 26, 2010}}</ref> Lightfoot performed extensively throughout high school, [[Orillia District Collegiate & Vocational Institute]] (ODCVI), and taught himself to play folk guitar. A formative influence on his music at this time was 19th-century master American songwriter [[Stephen Foster]].<ref>{{cite book| last=Adria | first= Marco| chapter=The Myth of Gordon Lightfoot | title = Music of Our Times: Eight Canadian Singer-Songwriters| place=Toronto | publisher = Lorimer| year = 1990| page=15}}</ref> 

Lightfoot relocated to Los Angeles in 1958 to study jazz composition and orchestration for two years at the Westlake College of Music.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Brodsky |first=Rachel |date=May 1, 2023 |title=Canadian Folk Icon Gordon Lightfoot Dead At 84 |language=en |work=Stereogum |url=https://www.stereogum.com/2222395/canadian-folk-icon-gordon-lightfoot-dead-at-84/news/ |access-date=May 2, 2023}}</ref>