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- - Terry (http://www.corfid.com/vbb//showthread.php?t=23311)

A very sad day...
My condolences to Terry's family... may he rest in peace!

Hi Folks ,
one off the few times i post ,
just wanted to add my condolences to Terry's family . Last october in Burlington Vt i got the chance to meet Terry and the band after the show, my son as - i did grew up watching the band and he was very excited to meet Terry . He Told him he was his biggest influence at becomming a guitar player - Terry was very gracious and thanked us for comming out to see them play - great guy - Very big loss,
mike

I can't add any more than what has already been said. We are all feeling the loss. Now, we can't help but recall our favorite "Terry Memories." Mine is during a show back in 2000, I attended with my son who was 7 years old at the time. We had the good fortune of sitting in the front row. At one point in the concert I thought I saw Terry just have this beaming smile as he saw my son. Then I realized, he really was looking at him, he just kept smiling & gazed at him for quite a while as he flawlessly breezed through whatever tune that Gord and the guys were playing. Then our eyes met and he gave a nod -- I think it was the father in hiim coming out as he appreciated this young fan. We had the good fortune of meeting Terry a number of times over the years -- always a gentleman.

So very sorry to hear this news. I will remember Terry's mischievous smile as he played, and his immense talent. He will be greatly missed.

I remember meeting him for the first time at Mariposa in 2000. He had been walking around with his wife. We stopped and chatted and snapped a couple of pics and got an autograph. I told him I had my 45 of IYCRMM that was 30 years old at the time...I asked him if Gord would be talking to anyone before the show and he showed me where the area was behind the stage and I could go over there and talk to him. When I went over Terry was talking with Gord. He was facing me and Gord has his back to me.They were about 50 feet away. Terry saw me and said something to Gord, then Gord turned around and came over... I think he told him about my 45...it's a wonderful memory. From that meeting with Terry I then met Gordon and subsequently sent him one of the pics I snapped..A couple of years later after a show in Pennsylvania he remembered me as the person who sent that picture...
here's the one of me and Terry -

What sad, sad news. So hard to believe. My sympathies to his family.

I still remember back when there was both Terry and Red on stage in their transition period. He seemed like he was barely out of high school, he looked so young.

Hard to find anymore words at this point -- damn this is heart breaking!

SO sad. By all accounts a wonderful man and musician, and deep contributor to the Lightfoot sound. I can't imagine them going back out so soon. We have tickets for Raleigh on the 19th of March. I really don't know what to expect.

What devastating news this is. My thoughts go out to his family and to the Lightfoot "family." Rest in Peace, Terry. What a kind, gentle and talented man. I always liked watching the interplay between Terry and Rick during concerts. They seemed to have so much fun on stage. The first time I got a chance to sit up front at a concert, I was watching Terry's fingers as he played. When I looked up at his face, he was looking at me and he winked! It startled me, but it made my day forever. I talked to him a few times after shows and he actually remembered me. For all the shows and fans, it was special that he did that. He will be truly missed.

I received a call from
Dream Street Rose today and she told me this news.

I can say it wasa great honor not only to meet him and get an autograph from him,like most but to also talk with him as I did at the
January 2007 concert before they let us in for the show and have my piscture taken with him too.
We even shared the memory of wathcing the Canadian TV show "The Hilarious House of Frightenstein",which I was able to recive in my hometown in NW Pennsylvania.

His guitar playing was and is (as well as other band members contributions) the backbone of Gordon's works starting in the 1970s. Now when I listen to all those albums up to Harmony,the guitar playing will seem even deeper than before.

When we watch that clip from Saturday Night Live from 1976,where they do the close up of his playing.the feeling will be so very different,as well as with Live In Reno.

Especially his work on "End Of All Time",an unforgettable sound.

Rest In Peace Terry,I'm sor very glad to have met you.

What an incredibly sad way to begin a week.

My heart goes out to his family and to all of his friends in mourning the loss of this wonderfully talented man. May he rest in peace.

I just found this in the "Press Articles Section" of the site.

January 2000 : 11 years and 1 month ago.

Terry Clements in the Lead

By Ben Elder
"I've been playing guitar too long to get uppity about it," says Terry Clements, the tall, soft-spoken Detroit native who has supplied lead guitar textures in Gordon Lightfoot's music for 30 years. "I'm still of the mind that the guitar is in the rhythm section. I actually like rhythm a lot more hat I like lead, and I'm not much of an acrobat."

His favourite acoustic guitarists include Tony Rice, Doc Watson, Ricky Skaggs, and Jerry Douglas (on Dobro). "I think Tony is about one of the slickest guys I've ever seen play," Clements says. "He doesn't even look like he's moving" Where are all these notes coming from?" Clements has recently been listening to Buena Vista Social Club, flamenco guitarist Manitas de Plata, and a lot of salsa music." "Growing up I California, I played with Mexican guys a lot," he says. "That stuff - all the percussion and horns - has got so much life to it!"

Clements started playing guitar at about age five using an open-D tuning. Before that, the guitar was not so much a musical tool as comfort. "My mum and dad broke up when I was between two and three, and my mum had to go out and work" he remembers. "She sent me off to St. Vincent de Paul, which is an orphanage in Mt. Clement, Michigan, for about three years," he recalls. "The guy there had this old Washburn acoustic, missing a string, so that became my teddy bear." He was reunited with his mother when her job situation improved, and she later bought him his first real guitar - a Stella.

In 1959, the family moved to southern California, where Clements was more likely to be found hanging out, playing guitar, and surfing in Huntington Beach that attending high school in Pasadena. By that time he'd stepped up to a Kay electric and was playing surf guitar wizard Dick Dale. This influence was to prove useful in Clements' later professional career. "You know that tremolo par in 'Canadian Railroad Trilogy'? Yearned that from Dick Dale!"

After high school, Clements spent two years in the navy, where he "busted up" his right and. He now picks with just a flatpick and his ring finger. He was part of Golden Sunflower in he '60sm a group managed by Lou Adler (manager of he Mamas and the Papas). Clements wrote and arranged for the group, and he was the only band member who actually played on the group's album; all the other parts were recorded by the legendary Wrecking Crew - an ensemble of first-call L.A. session aces.

Clements' association with Adler included recording, producing, arranging. Performing, and gofer work. He eventually got into film-score work, where he met Lightfoot. "A friend of mine was writing the score for a film at Paramount," he recalls. "They wanted to try Gord singing the title theme. They calles him in and right then and there he said, 'You want to join my band?' That's when Red [Shea] was still in there. I said I wanted to try this movie music stuff for a while. Then Gord calls up out of he blue, like late 1970, and says, 'What're you doing? How would you like a hipper gig? Red wants to get off the road, so I'm looking for a guitar player.'" Lightfoot flew Clements up to Toronto for an audition, and the two have been collaborators ever since.

At first, the "hipper gig" was challenging, because fans were often asking for Red Shea, but Clements brought his own style to the band - including electric guitar and a country rock sound - and eventually won them over. After three decades of working with Lightfoot, Clements says his job is not that complicated. "If Gord has specific idea, he'll tell me. Otherwise, it's, 'Come up with something,'" he explains, The ideas can flow in either direction, and "In My Fashion" from Waiting For You was built on a Terry Clements idea. "That was one of my riffs," he recalls. "Gordon said, 'Hey, can I use that I said, 'Sure,' and we ended up building that song around that riff."

When he's not on the road, Clements busies himself at home. "I have a little eight-track analog studio - enough to make a fairly good DAT, so I get songwriters in here. I help them arrange their stuff. The first time the young songwriters hear their song, hat's a pretty good feeling."

Clements' long tenure with Lightfoot is a testimonial in itself to the boss. "Gord is personable and more down to earth than a lot of people I've been around people who believe their own hype and have heads the size of watermelons. Gord doesn't have many airs about him. I guess to be in he business this long, you have some sense of decorum."

(typed by Gerhard Menzel)

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Edit : From Astro.com

Name Clements, Terry Gender: M

Terry Clements : July 22nd,1947 - February 20th,2011

American musician who has played lead guitar with Gordon Lightfoot since the early '70s.

Clements’ parents broke up when he was between two and three. His mother sent him to St. Vincent de Paul, an orphanage in Mt. Clement, Michigan, for about three years. There he received an old Washburn acoustic, missing a string, that became his "teddy bear." Clements started playing guitar at about age five. He was reunited with his mother when her job situation improved, and she later bought him his first real guitar, a Stella.

In 1959, the family moved to Pasadena, California where Clements often skipped school to play guitar and surf. After high school, Clements spent two years in the Navy, where he injured his right hand. He now picks with just a flat pick and his ring finger. He was part of Golden Sunflower in the 1960s. Clements wrote and arranged for the group, and he was the only band member who actually played on the group's album.

He eventually got into film-score work, where he met Lightfoot. Lightfoot flew Clements up to Toronto for an audition, and the two have been collaborators ever since. After nearly three decades, Clements still enjoys their work together, often coming up with riffs that Lightfoot uses in his songs.

When he's not on the road, Clements works in his eight-track analog studio at home, helping new songwriters record their work. Terry was also featured in the 1974 documentary "Janis"

I'd like to joing others in expressing condolences to the family of a truly wonderful man.

I also have my own "Terry" story to tell. I was attending a concert in Florida with my mom, my dad, and my three brothers. It was maybe fifteen years ago, and I was probably eight, but it could have been a year or so in either direction, as my family attended multiple Lightfoot concerts. While we were preparing to entering the concert venue, my older brother and I got into an altercation in which I landed a solid kick to his knee. My dad saw this, to he sent my mom and brothers into the auditorium with their tickets, while he walked me in the direction of the parking lot to get to our car, where Dad would "counsel" me as to the error of my ways. Before we even reached the parking lot, sort of behind the stage area of the building, we came across Terry smoking a cigar. Dad recognized him. I don't know if Terry was just being his usual friendly self or if he recognized the looks on our faces, read the situation, and decided to save a poor little girl from getting whacked. Anyway, he engaged my dad in conversation for what was probably ten minutes. He was very sweet to me as well. My dad was so utterly thrilled at meeting and conversing with the great Terry Clements that I never got whacked that night. I've always been grateful to Terry, and I'll always wonder if he knew what he did for me.

I've just finished updating the Gordon Lightfoot Wikipedia page to include not only the news of Terry but of Red Shea as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Lightfoot

I'm going home now to play my copy of the SNL performance and play some Gord Cd's as well.

Borderstone wrote:

"I'm going home now to play my copy of the SNL performance and play some Gord Cd's as well."

If that were a Facebook Post, I'd be all over the "Like" button.

Nothing more to add. It's ironic; Saturday night I actually had a couple of hours with nothing in particular to do (doesn't happen often these days), so I turned on our local PBS station in Hartford, and the Live in Reno concert was on. I've always been a bigger Red Shea fan than Terry's, but I noticed some subtle things that he did that gave the Lightfoot sound his own special touch, and I'm sure he's had to make lots of adjustments as Gord's voice has gone through its many changes. He was, by all accounts, an extremely classy, sensitive and self-effacing man, as well as a hell of a musician. Not a bad life at all--just not nearly long enough.
DQ

It's an incredibly sad day for all.
What an amazing musician and from all accounts, an amazing man. I can't imagine how difficult this must be for Terry's family, Gord and the band.
Heaven just added one great guitarist to it's band...

My son is hit hard by the news....he last met Terry in July 2009 at the Wolftrap concert (Vienna, Virginia). He remembers after the concert that they had a great conversation about distracted drivers -- Tim remarked about people who would text while driving and Terry told him a story about a young lady that he saw painting her toenails as she drove LOL. Terry was so down-to-earth and easy to talk to.

This is just devastating. Terry was such an intricate part of the Lightfoot "sound." His playing was something I have always attempted to emulate, and which I have come to respect deeply over the years. On top of his vast talent as one of the greatest lead guitar players in the music business, he was a genuinely nice man, who always had time for the fans. I remember meeting him backstage at Massey Hall in 2001 and asking him about what it was like to join the band in the early 1970s and how he felt knowing he contributed to so many memorable songs. He was as gracious as always, patiently answering my questions and indulging this young fan's passion. To say he will deeply missed is an understatement.

Rest in peace, Terry. Through your timeless, memorable, and inventive playing, you're spirit will be with us in concert halls across the continent in years to come.

on a more light-hearted note, did he ever play guitar standing up?. every photo/video i've seen, he's always been seated. nothing wrong with that of course!

I literally said "Oh NO!" When I read this on the other Lightfoot site. This really makes me sad. I never met him, as so many on this site have. Yet I loved watching him when he would do the guitar solo for CANADIAN RAILROAD TRILOGY in concert.

I can't count how many concerts I've been to, and one of the things I loved about the concerts was seeing Terry up on stage with that talented guitar, and humble smile.

I know that no one gets out of this life alive, but once in awhile, a name like Terry's comes up, and deeply moves me when I realize I'll never see him again. The concerts won't be the same.

I took this at a concert in Tucson. I think it is a sweet picture of a sweet man.

Here's a pic of Terry I took in the mid 90s in Livermore, CA. We had a great time backstage, he showed me Gord's chord changes to Don Quixote, and we had some laughs.

I'm really gonna miss that guy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by charlene (Post 169781)

from Kim:

That black and white one with the spotlight on him is stunning. If there is a memorial that picture should be in it!