Canadian singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot has died aged 84

Considered one of the most renowned voices to emerge from Toronto’s Yorkville folk club scene in the 1960s, Lightfoot recorded 20 studio albums and pen hundreds of songs, including Carefree Highway, The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald, Early Morning Rain and Sundown, which told a tale of Canadian identity that was exported worldwide.

Once called a “rare talent” by the venerable Bob Dylan, dozens of artists have covered Lightfoot’s work, including Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Harry Belafonte, Johnny Cash, Anne Murray, Jane’s Addiction and Sarah McLachlan – among numerous others.

Most of his songs are deeply autobiographical with lyrics that delve deep into his own experiences in an honest, disarming manner and explore issues surrounding the Canadian national identity.

.His 1975 song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald chronicled the demise of a Great Lakes ore freighter, and 1966’s Canadian Railroad Trilogy depicted the construction of the railway.

Lightfoot once said in an interview: “I simply write the songs about where I am and where I’m from. I take situations and write poems about them.”

The late star began singing in his church choir and dreamed of becoming a jazz musician.

At age 13, the soprano won a talent contest at the Kiwanis Music Festival, held at Toronto’s Massey Hall.

His barbershop quartet, The Collegiate Four, won a CBC talent competition.

Gordon strummed his first guitar all the way back in 1956 and began to dabble in songwriting in the months that followed.

At 18, he headed to the US to study music for a year, the trip funded in part by money he saved from a job delivering linens to resorts around his hometown.

Life in Hollywood wasn’t a good fit, however, and it wasn’t long before Lightfoot returned to Canada.

He made his popular radio debut with the single (Remember Me) I’m the One in 1962, which led to a number of hit songs and partnerships with other local musicians.

A statement on Lightfoot's official Facebook page said he died of natural causes at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto on Monday (May 1).