Beloved Canadian songwriter, Gordon Lightfoot is alive and well, in spite of CanWest's report that he had died. He called 680News and went live on-air to confirm that he's in fact alive.
The Canwest news service posted a report early Thursday afternoon saying Lightfoot had died and it was quickly picked up all over the Internet.
680News had singer Ronnie Hawkins say on-air live that he received conflicting reports.
Hawkins said he heard the rumour via his management team in the United States, which said they heard it by phone from someone claiming to be Lightfoot's grandson.
A spokesman for Canwest did not immediately return calls for comment.
Bernie Fiedler, Lightfoot's publicist, said the singer was in a dentist's chair in Toronto when the rumours began to spread.
"We've been besieged by phone calls, it's been a prank, somewhere over Twitter ... as far as we can think,'' said Fiedler, who was preparing a news release to counter the online chatter.
Lightfoot has had health problems in recent years. He suffered a ruptured artery in his stomach in 2002.
Global National issued an apology on Facebook:
"Global News regrets the premature announcement on the death of Gordon Lightfoot. The report was based on false information. We have taken steps to ensure that the error does not happen again and apologize for any harm it may have caused. Thanks, as always, for your continued support."