From CBC.ca's Gordon Lightfoot archives:

"Gordon Lightfoot was born Nov. 17, 1938 in Orillia, Ont. He began performing at church and at school as a youngster, cutting his first record at the age of ten with his sister Beverly. In 1951, he finished first place in the under-13 vocal competition of the Toronto Kiwanis Festival. A year later, he finished first in the "soprano unchanged" competition, appearing on stage at Massey Hall for the first time where he sang his winning performance.

In 1955 he wrote his first song, The Hula Hoop Song, beginning his career as a song writer. After graduating high school, he moved to Los Angeles in 1958 and enrolled in the Westlake College of Music. He returned to Toronto the following year and became a choral performer and dancer on the CBC's Country Hoedown. He formed a folk duo with Terry Whelan called the Two Tones, but the duo was turned down to play at the first Mariposa Festival for being 'too commercial.' "