Gordon Lightfoot Death a Hoax

Gordon Lightfoot's management says an Internet hoax created false rumours that the iconic Canadian folksinger had died Thursday.

Bernie Fiedler, Lightfoot's concert promoter, said the rumour started on Twitter.

"I just spoke to Gordon," Fiedler said in an interview, noting the singer was in good health. "He just got out of the dentist."

Lightfoot told CP24 Thursday afternoon that he has no idea what began the rumour he had died. "I was quite surprised to hear it myself driving in . . . to my office," he said. "I haven't had so much airplay for weeks."

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Gordon Lightfoot: This is your death on Twitter

Welcome to another chapter of life and death at broadband speed.

If we could read his mind, we'd know that singer Gordon Lightfoot is alive and well, despite reports to the contrary that bounced around Thursday afternoon online -- bouncing that included mainstream Canadian media websites and a Canadian news service. The singer was on his way home from the dentist, he told news station CP 24, when he heard word over the radio that he'd died.

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Gordon Lightfoot very much alive

Canadian folk icon Gordon Lightfoot is alive and well, says the singer's long-time friend, despite rumours to the contrary which spread quickly on Twitter and were picked up by some mainstream media outlets.

“I'm fine, everything is good. I don't know where it comes from. It seems like a bit of a hoax or something,” the folk icon told all-news station CP24.

“I was quite surprised to hear (it) myself.”

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Gordon Lightfoot alive and well

Gordon Lightfoot, it seems, learned of his own passing much later than most Canadians.

Unbeknownst to the 71-year-old Canadian folk icon, he was declared dead – first by a Twitter poster in Ottawa, then by a plethora of news websites, then by just about every other media outlet in the country – during a visit to his dentist on Thursday afternoon. It was only when he innocently flipped on the radio while driving back to his office that he learned that he was no longer alive. According to some reports, in fact, he had died the night before.

“I’m fine. I’m in great health. I’ve been doing just fine. The whole thing’s a hoax,” said Lightfoot during another call, this one to 680 News, joking that “all of a sudden, my music is in heavy rotation.”

“We’re gonna be getting calls here all afternoon, I’m sure … I really appreciate the concern. I don’t know what to make of it but I hope that we’ll find out. But I’m fine.”

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Lexiintoronto said:

Anne Murray, Burton Cummings and all members of Rush are all accounted for.

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Peachy said:

And now I have Rush and G. Lightfoot songs, with a sprinkling of C. Hart songs, running through my head... at the same time. LOL

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WhyaDuck? said:

"Tom Sawyer on the Edmund Fitzgerald (Wearing his Sunglasses at Night)"?

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Gozgals said:

I thought I had heard this rumor before about him Duck awhile back. Maybe they like to keep burying him. I can't imagine this happening to anyone.

Remember Fish? They keep saying he is dead and he is alive and kicking. Still having a good time at the last read, in his 80's.

Goz

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Peachy said:

Abe Vigoda? When we saw him in one of the Super Bowl commercials, everyone in the room shouted, "He's still alive? I thought he was dead!"

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Gozgals said:

Not a real chipper song there....

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