Hamilton, Ontario ? Singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, whose hits include “Sundown” and “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” was recovering Monday from emergency stomach surgery.

The 63-year-old Canadian performer underwent surgery Sunday for an unspecified stomach ailment, according to acquaintances and hospital officials.

Rick Haynes, a member of Lightfoot’s band, said Sunday night that Lightfoot was in a hospital intensive care unit and was conscious, although he did not elaborate on the procedure.

“He’s definitely getting better. He’s not in as much pain as he was in yesterday,” Haynes said. “We’re looking at recovery now.”

Lightfoot, complaining of abdominal pain, was rushed Saturday to a hospital in Orillia, Ontario, shortly before a scheduled performance at the Opera House there, 50 miles north of Toronto.

He then was flown to the McMaster University Medical Center in Hamilton, 30 miles west of Toronto, hospital spokesman Jeff Valentin said.

Lightfoot, one of Canada’s best-known and most-honored performers, is a five-time Grammy nominee whose songs have been covered by Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1986.

His other hits include “If You Could Read My Mind” and “Carefree Highway.”

His latest album is “A Painter Passing Through.”