Award-winning singer-songwriter Shirley Eikhard dead at 67

Singer-songwriter Shirley Eikhard, who won two Juno Awards and helped Bonnie Raitt to comeback success by penning one of her biggest hits, has died of cancer. She was 67.

Longtime friend Deborah Duggan says the musician died early Thursday at a hospital in Orangeville, Ont., surrounded by those closest to her.

In addition to Raitt, Eikhard's songs were covered by, or written for, the likes of Cher, Amy Grant, Rita Coolidge and Emmylou Harris.

For Eikhard, music was a lifelong passion and pursuit. Born in Sackville, N.B., to parents who both played musical instruments, she was residing in Oshawa, Ont., by the time of her debut 1969 appearance at the renowned Mariposa Folk Festival, just barely into her teens.

At age 15, she penned It Takes Time, a No. 1 adult contemporary hit on the Canadian charts for Anne Murray in 1971. That resulted in television appearances on the Anne Murray Special and Tommy Hunter Show on CBC.

By 1972, Eikhard was telling a newspaper reporter of her shift from earlier folk material to "country pop." Releasing a self-titled debut album that year, she won Junos for best female country artist in 1973 and 1974.

The debut album mixed originals and covers, including a version of Sylvia Tyson's Smiling Wine, which garnered Canadian radio airplay.

Eikhard's cover of Fleetwood Mac's Say You Love Me, from 1976's Let Me Down Easy, did as well.

That same year, she talked with the Globe and Mail about the challenges of trying to establish a successful career while staying in Canada, describing performing as a refuge.

"Those few hours when I'm up on stage mean everything to me," she said.

Struggles in the 1980s, then a surprise

There was a 10-year gap in her recorded output, until 1987's Taking Charge, as Eikhard dealt with voice issues.

Years later, she would describe her life as near its "nadir" as that decade ended, though she co-wrote a song, Kick Start My Heart, that landed on Alannah Myles's self-titled 1989 album.

Commercial success soon came for Eikhard, thanks to one of a number of songs she cranked out in the mid-1980s while staying in Nashville.

That song, Something to Talk About, was recorded by Bonnie Raitt for 1991's Luck of the Draw, which enabled the American singer-guitarist to cement a commercial comeback that had begun two years earlier, with Nick of Time.

Raitt praised Eikhard as "one of the most talented women I've ever heard" at a Toronto concert that year.

WATCH | In this 1999 interview, Shirley Eikhard talks about how she got into music:

Something to Talk About was nominated for Record of the Year at the 1992 Grammys, with Raitt earning the award for Best Pop Vocal Performance for the song.

Eikhard's first album after that bump in public profile — 1995's If I Had My Way — saw her return to familiar musical territory.

Then three years later, she was recording for the legendary Blue Note jazz label. For Eikhard, it was not a jarring shift, having included Billie Holiday songs in her set list for years.

Eikhard's most recent album was 2021's On My Way to You.