Gordon Lightfoot will present a concert at Penn State University's Eisenhower Auditorium at 8 p.m. June 16.

Canadian troubadour Gordon Lightfoot’s mother noticed her toddler son’s musical ability as he sang and soothed himself to sleep. At age 5, she placed him in the United Church of Canada junior choir, provided piano lessons at age 11, and his parents drove him to singing gigs and competitions until he learned to drive at 16. Performing remains his passion as his 80th birthday approaches.

“My parents never pushed me or pressured me,” he said. “I liked performing and music. I composed my first song when I was about 16.”

Central Pennsylvania fans will hear his many hits, such as “Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald” and “Sundown,” as well as what Lightfoot called “unheard selections” June 16 at Eisenhower Auditorium at University Park.

“I love performing in venues like Eisenhower,” said Lightfoot, during a phone interview from his Toronto, Canada, home. “The acoustics are outstanding in concert halls like this so people will hear really great sound. I perform for 2 hours and five minutes with a 20-minute intermission. It goes mighty fast.”

He recently finished performing 13 shows in 18 days, his last before 8,000 fans. He rotates three different set lists to “keep it fresh” for himself and his 14-member band and lighting crew. Some songs, such as his personal favorite “If I Could Read Your Mind,” are performed every show, albeit some hits are turned into medlies. Lightfoot said he works hard not to disappoint fans.

One fan and former Johnstown native Marlene (Larimer) Sawyer now of Pasadena, Maryland, purchased concert tickets as soon as the local date was announced. She, her husband Steve Sawyer and other family members are making it a group outing.

“I have never been to any of his concerts, so this opportunity to be present for a live performance will become a treasured memory,” Sawyer said. “It will be re-lived every time I play his music via streaming technology.”

Sawyer, like many Lightfoot devotees, said, “I enjoy songs that tell a story and have always preferred folk/country/folk-pop-rock music to listen to. His story telling poetry set to music is easy to listen to and sing along with. I put Gordon in the same category as James Taylor and current entertainer, Chris Stapleton.”

Likening musical performances to a sporting event, Lightfoot trains daily, physically and musically. A lifelong runner, his workouts consist of 120-minutes of fast-walking, weight-lifting and stretching six days a week and two hours of guitar and vocal practice.

“I want to do concerts and I want to do concerts really, really, really well,” he said. “I’m not a brilliant guitar player so I must do it (practice) because I want a perfect show.”

Such perfectionism rescued him and enabled completion of his 20th and last studio album in 2004 called “Harmony.” His active, sober lifestyle likely saved his life, he said, when he suffered a near-fatal ruptured abdominal aneurysm between benefit concerts in his hometown in 2002.

Severe stomach pain forced him to lie on the dressing room floor alone until his older sister who at the time served as his office manager found him and arranged for life-saving care.

Lightfoot knows and is grateful for being a survivor — only about 20 percent of people with such a rupture survive, according to the American Heart Association. Lightfoot was in a coma for about three weeks and had several follow-up surgeries during a 19-month period.

“I had to fight my way back,” he said. “I didn’t sing a note for 14 months.”

Fortunately, 10 of 15 pre-recorded practice sessions for “Harmony” were “perfect” and his band added its parts to complete the album. The album completed his contractual obligations and he said he has no plans to enter the studio in the near-future.

Instead, his focus is on performing for audiences that attract multiple generations. He performs 70 to 80 shows per year.

The shows include his hits “If You Could Read My Mind,” “Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald” and “Sundown,” and the songs transport him back in time to when they were written.

Asked about his writing process, Lightfoot said, “I don’t know where (a song) comes from. But an idea picks up a momentum and a forward motion based on its emotion. It flows.”

If you go

What: An Evening with Gordon Lightfoot, Greenhouse Productions Presents

When: 8 p.m. Saturday, June 16

Where: Center for the Performing Arts, The Pennsylvania State University, Eisenhower Auditorium

Cost: Tickets $60 or $85; call 814-863-0255 or visit cfpa@psu/edu