TORONTO \u2014 After more than five decades on the road, Kenny Loggins thought he had cut loose for good.<\/p>\n
The \u201cFootloose\u201d singer wrapped what was billed as his final tour in 2023, ready to focus on home and life beyond the stage.<\/p>\n
But retirement, he says, isn\u2019t that simple.<\/p>\n
A recent collaboration with hitmaker Charlie Puth \u2014 the swingy, yacht rock\u2013tinged track \u201cLove in Exile\u201d \u2014 stirred something familiar. The song, which Loggins co-wrote alongside Puth and longtime collaborator Michael McDonald, came together quickly, almost instinctively, in the studio.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was so fun,\u201d Loggins tells The Canadian Press. \u201cI was like, \u2018Oh yeah \u2014 I remember me. This is what I do.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The 79-year-old adds that feeling has complicated his plans of slowing down<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been on the road doing what I do since I was 21,\u201d he says. \u201cSo there\u2019s a level of identity that\u2019s connected to that persona. And now pulling the plug on that is challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n
That tension is at the core of \u201cKenny Loggins: Conviction of the Heart,\u201d his new biographical documentary, which makes its world premiere at Toronto\u2019s Hot Docs Festival on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had a long relationship with Toronto,\u201d the Washington-born singer-songwriter says, adding that decades of touring have left him with plenty of memories there, but \u201cnone I\u2019m going to say out loud.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 94-minute film, directed by Dori Berinstein, follows Loggins\u2019 winding career while unfolding in real time as he prepares for his purported final performance, charting his path from pop duo Loggins and Messina to Hollywood\u2019s go-to voice for soundtracks, including \u201cTop Gun.\u201d<\/p>\n
The singer-songwriter says he didn\u2019t want to shy away from the \u201cscary parts\u201d of his story. That meant revisiting complicated relationships \u2014 including with his hard-to-please older brother, who first sparked his love of music \u2014 and confronting his struggles balancing life on the road with life at home.<\/p>\n
It also meant opening up about his son Lu\u2019s transition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been so much negativity and so much fear spread around people who need to transition that I felt the other side of the coin needed to be expressed, which was that expression of love,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo publicly accept his transition was an expression of love that I wanted to do for him. And maybe for other parents who find themselves in the same situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Berinstein says that story became a natural extension of the film\u2019s central idea: \u201cWhen we first started talking for the film, Kenny had the line, \u2018My whole career has been a journey into being myself.\u2019 And then Lu was going through that process. So there was such an amazing parallel there.\u201d<\/p>\n
That idea, of becoming yourself, is one Loggins says he\u2019s still working through, even now.<\/p>\n
Looking back, he sees a pattern in his life: a recurring need to prove himself, first to his older brother and later to collaborators, including writing partner Jim Messina.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we have a particular issue that we need to work on in our lives, it\u2019s going to keep showing up until we begin to gnaw at the ropes. And that issue is around some version of self-esteem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Loggins describes himself as \u201cterminally shy\u201d growing up \u2014 a trait that would later create a divide between his public and private selves. For years, he says, the most authentic version of himself only emerged under the lights.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really my second wife, Julia, who began to hip me to the fact that I am more myself on stage than I am offstage,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cOffstage, I went back into being the shy version of Kenny.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leaning into that assured version of himself, he says, helped foster a self-belief that would define his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I went solo, nobody told me going solo from a successful duo was highly unlikely. The statistics are really low,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd because I didn\u2019t know I couldn\u2019t do it, I went and did it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking back, Loggins credits that mindset for many of his opportunities, including becoming the king of movie soundtracks, starting with penning the theme for 1980s comedy \u201cCaddyshack.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d always imagined that I would write for movies, so when it was offered to me, it was like, \u2018OK, I\u2019ll do that,\u2019\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n
In the film, Loggins says he\u2019s leaving the stage in order to be more present with his family and understand who he is outside of the spotlight.<\/p>\n
Still, even as he steps back, the question of whether he\u2019s truly done lingers. <\/p>\n
Puth recently called to ask if he\u2019d join him onstage in Santa Barbara for a performance of \u201cLove in Exile.\u201d<\/p>\n
Loggins is mulling it over. He hasn\u2019t played a show since 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs this too stressful now, or is this going to be fun?\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
\u201cPart of me really would like to be done. It\u2019s been a long road, and I\u2019m kind of tired of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pauses.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut at the same time, you miss it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKenny Loggins: Conviction of the Heart\u201d screens April 27 at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema and April 28 at TIFF Lightbox in Toronto. <\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2026.<\/p>\n
Alex Nino Gheciu, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 After more than five decades on the road, Kenny Loggins thought he had cut loose for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[415,407,416,603,389,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-23139","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-film","11":"tag-labour","12":"tag-music","13":"tag-toronto"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}