Dan Fogelberg
Encyclopedia
Daniel Grayling "Dan" Fogelberg (August 13, 1951 – December 16, 2007) was an American singer-songwriter
, composer
, and multi-instrumentalist
, whose music was inspired by sources as diverse as folk
, pop
, rock
, classical
, jazz
, and bluegrass music
. He is perhaps best known for his 1980 hit "Longer
" and his 1981 hit "Leader of the Band
".
, Illinois
, the son of Margaret (née Irvine), a classically trained pianist, and Lawrence Peter Fogelberg, a high school band director, who spent most of his career at Peoria's Woodruff High School and Pekin
High School. Dan Fogelberg's mother was a Scottish
immigrant, and his father was of Swedish
descent. His father would later be the inspiration for the song, "Leader of the Band
". Using a Mel Bay course book, Dan taught himself to play a Hawaiian slide guitar
that his grandfather gave to him; he also learned to play the piano. At age 14 he joined a band, The Clan, which covered The Beatles
. His second band was another cover
combo, The Coachmen, who in 1967 released two singles, written by Fogelberg, on Ledger Records: "Maybe Time Will Let Me Forget" and "Don't Want To Lose Her."
. He began performing as a solo acoustic player in area coffeehouses, including the Red Herring Coffeehouse, where he made his first solo recordings as part of a folk festival recording in 1971. He was discovered that year by Irving Azoff
. Fogelberg and Azoff—who started his music-management career promoting another Champaign-Urbana act, REO Speedwagon
—moved to California
to seek their fortunes. Azoff sent Fogelberg to Nashville
to hone his skills, where he became a session musician
and recorded his first album, with producer Norbert Putnam
. In 1972, Fogelberg released his debut album Home Free
to lukewarm response. He performed as an opening act for Van Morrison
. Fogelberg's second effort was much more successful—the 1974 Joe Walsh
–produced album Souvenirs
and its song "Part of the Plan" became Fogelberg's first hit.
, from 1991–1996; and to musician Jean Marie Mayer, from April 7, 2002 until his death in late 2007. He had no children by any of his marriages.
and platinum albums, including Captured Angel
(1975) and Nether Lands
(1977), and found commercial success with songs such as "The Power of Gold." His 1978 Twin Sons of Different Mothers
was the first of two collaborations with jazz
flautist
Tim Weisberg
. 1979's Phoenix
reached the Top 10, with "Longer
" becoming a #2 pop hit (and wedding standard) in 1980. The track peaked at #59 in the UK Singles Chart
- his sole entry in that listing. The album reached #42 in the UK Albums Chart
, likewise Fogelberg's only entry there. This was followed by a Top 20 hit "Heart Hotels."
The Innocent Age
, released in October 1981, was Fogelberg's critical and commercial peak. This double-album song cycle
included four of his biggest hits: "Leader of the Band
," "Hard to Say
," "Run for the Roses
," and "Same Old Lang Syne
," based on a real-life accidental meeting with a former girlfriend. Fogelberg drew inspiration for The Innocent Age from Thomas Wolfe's novel Of Time and the River. A 1982 greatest hits album
contained two new songs, both of which were released as singles: "Missing You" and "Make Love Stay
." In 1984, he released the album Windows and Walls
, containing the singles "The Language of Love" and "Believe in Me
".
Fogelberg released High Country Snows
in 1985. Recorded in Nashville, it showcased his, and some of the industry's best, talent in the bluegrass
genre. Vince Gill
, Ricky Skaggs
, Doc Watson
, Jerry Douglas
, David Grisman
, Chris Hillman
, and Herb Pedersen
were among those who contributed to the record. In a world he defined as "life in the fast lane," Fogelberg described the music as "life in the off-ramp." In late 1985, Fogelberg switched gears and took to the road with a group of musician friends, including Joe Vitale and Rick Rosas, playing blues in small clubs throughout Colorado
as Frankie and the Aliens, covering songs by Cream
and Muddy Waters
, among others. 1987 heralded a return to rock with Exiles
, an album that contained a song, "What You're Doing," a throwback to the old Stax Records sound made famous in Memphis during the 1960s. While touring in New England early in 1988, he came across an issue of Nine-O-One Network Magazine
, which was published in Memphis, and he called the publisher, James L. Dickerson, and an interview resulted that landed him on the cover of the April 1988 issue. Known for his many relationship songs, he confessed that he hadn't had a lot of relationships and wrote based on his observations of other people's relationships: "I think it's kind of every man for himself. I'm really not the great philosopher on relationships. I haven't been the most successful person in that area." 1990's The Wild Places was a tribute to Earth preservation. In 1991, he released the live album Greetings from the West
.
River of Souls
, released in 1993, was Fogelberg's last studio album for Sony Records. In 1997, Portrait encompassed his career with four discs, each highlighting a different facet of his music: "Ballads," "Rock and Roll," "Tales and Travels", and "Hits." In 1999, he released a Christmas album
, with his release of First Christmas Morning, and in 2003, Full Circle showcased a return to the folk-influenced 1970s soft rock
style of music.
Fogelberg used his music to address social issues, including peace
and Native American
concerns. He was particularly outspoken about the environment
and to finding alternatives to nuclear power
. To that end, Fogelberg included "Face the Fire" on the Phoenix album and performed at a number of the Musicians United for Safe Energy
"No Nukes" concerts in 1979 and 1980.
In 2002, fans showed their appreciation by choosing Fogelberg as one of the first ten inductees into the Performers Hall of Fame at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre
in Morrison
, Colorado
.
. He underwent therapy and achieved a partial remission, which did not eliminate his cancer but reduced it and stopped its spread. On August 13, 2005, his 54th birthday, Fogelberg announced the success of his cancer treatments. He said that he had no immediate plans to return to making music but was keeping his options open. After battling prostate cancer for three years, Fogelberg succumbed to the disease on December 16, 2007, at his home in Deer Isle, with wife Jean by his side. He was 56 years old."
Soon after his death, his widow announced that a song written and recorded for her by Fogelberg for Valentine's Day 2005, "Sometimes a Song", would be sold on the Internet and that all proceeds would go to the Prostate Cancer Foundation
. The song was released on Valentine's Day 2008 and was also included in a collection of eleven previously unpublished songs (nine originals) on a CD released in September 2009 titled Love In Time.
In tribute to Fogelberg and the entire Fogelberg family, the city of Peoria
renamed Abington Street in the city's East Bluff neighborhood "Fogelberg Parkway". The street runs along the east side of Woodruff High School, Fogelberg's alma mater, and where his father was a teacher and bandleader. "Fogelberg Parkway" ends at the intersection of N. Prospect and Frye, which is the location of the convenience store where Fogelberg ran into his old high school sweetheart one Christmas Eve, a chance encounter made famous in the song "Same Old Lang Syne
"
In the fall of 2009, the Peoria City Council granted permission to a group of Dan Fogelberg fans to begin fund-raising efforts to create a permanent memorial to Fogelberg in his hometown of Peoria. The memorial garden, placed in Riverfront Park, was dedicated in a ceremony held on August 28, 2010.
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, and multi-instrumentalist
Multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:Music written for Symphony...
, whose music was inspired by sources as diverse as folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, and bluegrass music
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
. He is perhaps best known for his 1980 hit "Longer
Longer
"Longer" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg. The song can be found on Fogelberg's 1979 album Phoenix...
" and his 1981 hit "Leader of the Band
Leader of the Band
"Leader of the Band" is a song written by Dan Fogelberg from his 1981 album The Innocent Age. The song was written as a tribute to his father Lawrence Fogelberg, a musician and the leader of a band, who was still alive at the time the song was released....
".
Early life and family
Dan Fogelberg, the youngest of three sons, was born in PeoriaPeoria, Illinois
Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, the son of Margaret (née Irvine), a classically trained pianist, and Lawrence Peter Fogelberg, a high school band director, who spent most of his career at Peoria's Woodruff High School and Pekin
Pekin, Illinois
Pekin is a the county seat of Tazewell County in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located on the Illinois River, Pekin is also the largest city of Tazewell County, and a key part of the Peoria metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, its population is 34,094. A small portion of the city limits extends...
High School. Dan Fogelberg's mother was a Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
immigrant, and his father was of Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
descent. His father would later be the inspiration for the song, "Leader of the Band
Leader of the Band
"Leader of the Band" is a song written by Dan Fogelberg from his 1981 album The Innocent Age. The song was written as a tribute to his father Lawrence Fogelberg, a musician and the leader of a band, who was still alive at the time the song was released....
". Using a Mel Bay course book, Dan taught himself to play a Hawaiian slide guitar
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
that his grandfather gave to him; he also learned to play the piano. At age 14 he joined a band, The Clan, which covered The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
. His second band was another cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
combo, The Coachmen, who in 1967 released two singles, written by Fogelberg, on Ledger Records: "Maybe Time Will Let Me Forget" and "Don't Want To Lose Her."
Early musical career
After graduating from Woodruff High School in 1969, Fogelberg studied theater arts and painting at the University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
. He began performing as a solo acoustic player in area coffeehouses, including the Red Herring Coffeehouse, where he made his first solo recordings as part of a folk festival recording in 1971. He was discovered that year by Irving Azoff
Irving Azoff
Irving Azoff is an American personal manager, representing recording artists in the music industry such as Christina Aguilera, Journey, Jewel, the Eagles, X Japan, Bush, REO Speedwagon, Seal, David Archuleta, Alter Bridge, Van Halen, 30 Seconds to Mars, Neil Diamond, New Kids on the Block, Steely...
. Fogelberg and Azoff—who started his music-management career promoting another Champaign-Urbana act, REO Speedwagon
REO Speedwagon
REO Speedwagon is an American rock band. Formed in 1967, the band grew in popularity during the 1970s and peaked in the early 1980s. Hi Infidelity is the group's most commercially successful album, selling over ten million copies and charting four Top 40 hits in the US...
—moved to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to seek their fortunes. Azoff sent Fogelberg to Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
to hone his skills, where he became a session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
and recorded his first album, with producer Norbert Putnam
Norbert Putnam
Norbert Putnam is an American record producer and musician. He grew up near Florence, Alabama and was part of the Muscle Shoals musicians brought to Nashville to play for Elvis Presley in 1965. Putnam worked there as a bassist on recording sessions with Presley, Roy Orbison, Al Hirt, Henry...
. In 1972, Fogelberg released his debut album Home Free
Home Free
Home Free is the debut album by the late American singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg, released in 1972 ."Home Free" has been certified Platinum by the RIAA for certified sales of 1,000,000 copies, but as a re-issue, not during the original release, which had lukewarm success.-Track listing:All songs...
to lukewarm response. He performed as an opening act for Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
. Fogelberg's second effort was much more successful—the 1974 Joe Walsh
Joe Walsh
Joseph Fidler "Joe" Walsh is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has been a member of three commercially successful bands, the James Gang, Barnstorm, and the Eagles, and has experienced notable success as a solo artist and prolific session musician, especially with B.B...
–produced album Souvenirs
Souvenirs (Dan Fogelberg album)
Souvenirs is the second album by the late American singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg, released in 1974 .-Track listing:All songs written by Fogelberg.#"Part of the Plan" – 3:18#"Illinois" – 4:15#"Changing Horses" – 2:36...
and its song "Part of the Plan" became Fogelberg's first hit.
Marriages
Fogelberg was married three times: to Maggie Slaymaker, a dancer from Nashville, from 1982–1985; to Anastasia Savage, a nurse and artist from LouisianaLouisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, from 1991–1996; and to musician Jean Marie Mayer, from April 7, 2002 until his death in late 2007. He had no children by any of his marriages.
Musical career
After Souvenirs, Fogelberg released a string of goldRIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
and platinum albums, including Captured Angel
Captured Angel
Captured Angel is the third album by the late American singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg, released in 1975 .-Side one:#"Aspen/These Days" – 7:39#"Comes and Goes" – 2:25#"Captured Angel" – 2:57#"Old Tennessee" – 3:07#"Next Time" – 4:10...
(1975) and Nether Lands
Nether Lands
Nether Lands is the fourth album by the late American singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg, released in 1977 . The album title is a play on Nederland, Colorado, the location of one of the studios used to record the album...
(1977), and found commercial success with songs such as "The Power of Gold." His 1978 Twin Sons of Different Mothers
Twin Sons of Different Mothers
Twin Sons of Different Mothers is the fifth album by American singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg, released in 1978 . The album was the first of Fogelberg's two collaborations with jazz flautist Tim Weisberg; for the second, see No Resemblance Whatsoever.-Track listing:All songs written by Dan...
was the first of two collaborations with jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
flautist
Flautist
A flautist or flutist is a musician who plays an instrument in the flute family. See List of flautists.The choice of "flautist" versus "flutist" is the source of dispute among players of the instrument...
Tim Weisberg
Tim Weisberg
Tim Weisberg is an American jazz/rock fusion flutist, composer, producer, and vocalist. In high school, at his first music class, because his last name was at the end of the alphabet, he was last to pick an instrument. All that was left was the flute and the bassoon...
. 1979's Phoenix
Phoenix (Dan Fogelberg album)
Phoenix is the sixth album by American singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg, released in 1979 .-Track listing:All songs written by Dan Fogelberg.#"Tullamore Dew" – 1:16#"Phoenix" – 7:06#"Gypsy Wind" – 3:59#"The Last to Know" – 3:11...
reached the Top 10, with "Longer
Longer
"Longer" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg. The song can be found on Fogelberg's 1979 album Phoenix...
" becoming a #2 pop hit (and wedding standard) in 1980. The track peaked at #59 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
- his sole entry in that listing. The album reached #42 in the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
, likewise Fogelberg's only entry there. This was followed by a Top 20 hit "Heart Hotels."
The Innocent Age
The Innocent Age
The Innocent Age is the seventh album by American singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg, released in 1981 . It was also one of his most successful albums; three of his four Top 10 singles on the Billboard pop chart were from this album, as well as another Top 20 single in "Run for the Roses"...
, released in October 1981, was Fogelberg's critical and commercial peak. This double-album song cycle
Song cycle
A song cycle is a group of songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a single entity. As a rule, all of the songs are by the same composer and often use words from the same poet or lyricist. Unification can be achieved by a narrative or a persona common to the songs, or even, as in Schumann's...
included four of his biggest hits: "Leader of the Band
Leader of the Band
"Leader of the Band" is a song written by Dan Fogelberg from his 1981 album The Innocent Age. The song was written as a tribute to his father Lawrence Fogelberg, a musician and the leader of a band, who was still alive at the time the song was released....
," "Hard to Say
Hard to Say
"Hard to Say" is the title of a popular song from 1981 written and performed by the American singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg. The song first appeared on Fogelberg's album The Innocent Age....
," "Run for the Roses
Run for the Roses
"Run for the Roses" is a song on the album The Innocent Age, written and recorded by singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg in 1981. Released as a single the following year, it peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100. It has since been used as an unofficial theme for the Kentucky Derby...
," and "Same Old Lang Syne
Same Old Lang Syne
"Same Old Lang Syne" is a song sung by Dan Fogelberg released as a single in 1980. It was also included on his 1981 album The Innocent Age. The song is a narrative ballad told in the first person and tells the story of two long-ago lovers meeting by chance in a supermarket on Christmas Eve...
," based on a real-life accidental meeting with a former girlfriend. Fogelberg drew inspiration for The Innocent Age from Thomas Wolfe's novel Of Time and the River. A 1982 greatest hits album
Greatest Hits (Dan Fogelberg album)
Greatest Hits is a compilation album by American adult contemporary artist Dan Fogelberg. It included two previously unreleased tracks, "Missing You" and "Make Love Stay", both of which were released as singles and peaked at chart positions #23 and #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, respectively...
contained two new songs, both of which were released as singles: "Missing You" and "Make Love Stay
Make Love Stay
"Make Love Stay" is the title of a popular song from 1983 written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg. It was one of two new songs included on his 1982 greatest hits album, along with the song "Missing You"....
." In 1984, he released the album Windows and Walls
Windows and Walls
Windows and Walls is the eighth album by American singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg, released in 1984 . The first single, "The Language of Love", reached #13 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart...
, containing the singles "The Language of Love" and "Believe in Me
Believe in Me (Dan Fogelberg song)
"Believe in Me" is the title of a popular song from 1984 written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg. The song appears on Fogelberg's 1984 studio album Windows and Walls....
".
Fogelberg released High Country Snows
High Country Snows
High Country Snows is the ninth album by American singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg, released in 1985 .-Track listing:All songs written by Dan Fogelberg, except where noted.#"Down the Road" – 0:27...
in 1985. Recorded in Nashville, it showcased his, and some of the industry's best, talent in the bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
genre. Vince Gill
Vince Gill
Vincent Grant "Vince" Gill is an American neotraditional country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a...
, Ricky Skaggs
Ricky Skaggs
Rickie Lee "Ricky" Skaggs is a country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, and banjo.-Early career:...
, Doc Watson
Doc Watson
Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson is an American guitar player, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. He has won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded...
, Jerry Douglas
Jerry Douglas
Jerry Douglas may refer to:*Jerry Douglas , actor, who was on The Young and the Restless for 25 years*Jerry Douglas, country/bluegrass musician*Jerry Douglas , director and writer of adult films such as, Score...
, David Grisman
David Grisman
David Grisman is an American bluegrass/newgrass mandolinist and composer of acoustic music. In the early 1990s, he started the Acoustic Disc record label in an effort to preserve and spread acoustic or instrumental music.-Biography:Grisman grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey...
, Chris Hillman
Chris Hillman
Christopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke....
, and Herb Pedersen
Herb Pedersen
Herb Pedersen is an American musician, guitarist, banjo player, and singer-songwriter who has played a variety of musical styles over the past forty years including country, bluegrass, progressive bluegrass, folk, folk rock, country rock, and has worked with numerous musicians in many different...
were among those who contributed to the record. In a world he defined as "life in the fast lane," Fogelberg described the music as "life in the off-ramp." In late 1985, Fogelberg switched gears and took to the road with a group of musician friends, including Joe Vitale and Rick Rosas, playing blues in small clubs throughout Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
as Frankie and the Aliens, covering songs by Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
and Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
, among others. 1987 heralded a return to rock with Exiles
Exiles (album)
Exiles is the tenth album by American singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg, released in 1987 . It is best remembered for the minor hits "Lonely in Love" and "She Don't Look Back".-Track listing:#"Exiles" – 4:13...
, an album that contained a song, "What You're Doing," a throwback to the old Stax Records sound made famous in Memphis during the 1960s. While touring in New England early in 1988, he came across an issue of Nine-O-One Network Magazine
Nine-O-One Network Magazine
Nine-O-One Network Magazine was a bi-monthly music magazine published in Memphis, Tennessee, from 1986 to 1989.-Beginnings:The magazine originated during the heralded 1986 “Class of '55” recording session in Memphis with Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Carl Perkins. Producer Chips...
, which was published in Memphis, and he called the publisher, James L. Dickerson, and an interview resulted that landed him on the cover of the April 1988 issue. Known for his many relationship songs, he confessed that he hadn't had a lot of relationships and wrote based on his observations of other people's relationships: "I think it's kind of every man for himself. I'm really not the great philosopher on relationships. I haven't been the most successful person in that area." 1990's The Wild Places was a tribute to Earth preservation. In 1991, he released the live album Greetings from the West
Dan Fogelberg Live: Greetings from the West
Dan Fogelberg Live: Greetings from the West is the twelfth album by American singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg, released in 1991 .-Disc one:#"Aurora Nova" – 1:43#"The Wild Places" – 4:26#"Heart Hotels" – 4:18#"Over and Over" – 5:16...
.
River of Souls
River of Souls
River of Souls is the thirteenth album by American singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg, released in 1993 .-Track listing:All songs written by Dan Fogelberg.#"Magic Every Moment" – 4:22#"All There Is" – 4:34#"The Minstrel" – 4:42...
, released in 1993, was Fogelberg's last studio album for Sony Records. In 1997, Portrait encompassed his career with four discs, each highlighting a different facet of his music: "Ballads," "Rock and Roll," "Tales and Travels", and "Hits." In 1999, he released a Christmas album
Christmas Album
Christmas Album may refer to:* Christmas Album , a 1968 album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass* Christmas Album Christmas Album may refer to:* Christmas Album (Herb Alpert album), a 1968 album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass* Christmas Album Christmas Album may refer to:* Christmas Album (Herb...
, with his release of First Christmas Morning, and in 2003, Full Circle showcased a return to the folk-influenced 1970s soft rock
Soft rock
Soft rock is a style of music which uses the techniques of rock music to compose a softer, more toned-down sound. Soft rock songs generally tend to focus on themes like love, everyday life and relationships. The genre tends to make heavy use of acoustic guitars, pianos, synthesizers and sometimes...
style of music.
Fogelberg used his music to address social issues, including peace
Peace movement
A peace movement is a social movement that seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war , minimize inter-human violence in a particular place or type of situation, often linked to the goal of achieving world peace...
and Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
concerns. He was particularly outspoken about the environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
and to finding alternatives to nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
. To that end, Fogelberg included "Face the Fire" on the Phoenix album and performed at a number of the Musicians United for Safe Energy
Musicians United for Safe Energy
Musicians United for Safe Energy, or MUSE, is an activist group founded in 1979 by Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, and John Hall. The group advocates against the use of nuclear energy, forming shortly after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in March 1979...
"No Nukes" concerts in 1979 and 1980.
In 2002, fans showed their appreciation by choosing Fogelberg as one of the first ten inductees into the Performers Hall of Fame at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Red Rocks Amphitheatre is a rock structure near Morrison, Colorado, where concerts are given in the open-air amphitheatre. There is a large, tilted, disc-shaped rock behind the stage, a huge vertical rock angled outwards from stage right, several large outcrops angled outwards from stage left and a...
in Morrison
Morrison, Colorado
The historic Town of Morrison is a Home Rule Municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The population was 430 at the 2000 census...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
.
Final years
In May 2004, Fogelberg was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancerProstate cancer
Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...
. He underwent therapy and achieved a partial remission, which did not eliminate his cancer but reduced it and stopped its spread. On August 13, 2005, his 54th birthday, Fogelberg announced the success of his cancer treatments. He said that he had no immediate plans to return to making music but was keeping his options open. After battling prostate cancer for three years, Fogelberg succumbed to the disease on December 16, 2007, at his home in Deer Isle, with wife Jean by his side. He was 56 years old."
Soon after his death, his widow announced that a song written and recorded for her by Fogelberg for Valentine's Day 2005, "Sometimes a Song", would be sold on the Internet and that all proceeds would go to the Prostate Cancer Foundation
Prostate Cancer Foundation
The Prostate Cancer Foundation , formerly known as CaP CURE, is the world’s largest philanthropic source of support for prostate cancer research. PCF was founded in 1993 in order to discover better treatments and a cure for prostate cancer...
. The song was released on Valentine's Day 2008 and was also included in a collection of eleven previously unpublished songs (nine originals) on a CD released in September 2009 titled Love In Time.
In tribute to Fogelberg and the entire Fogelberg family, the city of Peoria
Peoria, Illinois
Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...
renamed Abington Street in the city's East Bluff neighborhood "Fogelberg Parkway". The street runs along the east side of Woodruff High School, Fogelberg's alma mater, and where his father was a teacher and bandleader. "Fogelberg Parkway" ends at the intersection of N. Prospect and Frye, which is the location of the convenience store where Fogelberg ran into his old high school sweetheart one Christmas Eve, a chance encounter made famous in the song "Same Old Lang Syne
Same Old Lang Syne
"Same Old Lang Syne" is a song sung by Dan Fogelberg released as a single in 1980. It was also included on his 1981 album The Innocent Age. The song is a narrative ballad told in the first person and tells the story of two long-ago lovers meeting by chance in a supermarket on Christmas Eve...
"
In the fall of 2009, the Peoria City Council granted permission to a group of Dan Fogelberg fans to begin fund-raising efforts to create a permanent memorial to Fogelberg in his hometown of Peoria. The memorial garden, placed in Riverfront Park, was dedicated in a ceremony held on August 28, 2010.
External links
- Dan Fogelberg.com - official website
- The Power of Gold video used in the ABC 1980 Olympics