Beloved Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot begins a four-city Ontario tour in April with a performance at Ottawa's National Arts Centre.

Lightfoot, a legendary songwriter and performer with hits such as Early Mornin' Rain, Steel Rail Blues and Sundown, has returned to touring after a health crisis in 2002 that put him in hospital for months.

Gordon Lightfoot performs during the Canadian Live 8 concert in Barrie, Ont., in 2005. He'll tour four Ontario cities this spring.
(Aaron Harris/Canadian Press)

He is touring throughout the U.S. in February and March and then returns to Canada April 19 for two shows at the NAC.

Then he will appear in Hamilton and Kitchener, Ont., followed by four shows in Toronto's Massey Hall.

Lightfoot, 68, was born in Orillia, Ont., and broke into the Canadian folk scene at Toronto's famous Riverboat.

In 1971 If You Could Read My Mind became his first top 10 hit and was followed up by Sundown, and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Lightfoot has won 15 Juno Awards, been nominated for five Grammys Awards and been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

His live performances continue to sell out across North America.

Lightfoot's manager Barry Harvey died suddenly on Dec. 4, 2007, at age 56.