Dan Fogelberg died of prostate cancer on December 16, 2007 at his home in Maine with his wife Jean by his side. Fogelberg was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in 2004. He underwent hormonal therapy and achieved a partial remission but treatment failed to completely eliminate the second-most common cancer after skin cancer. Various treatments, including surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, have proven effective in fighting prostate cancer, which typically afflicts men in their sixties and seventies.
Fogelberg, the youngest of three sons, was born in Peoria, Illinois, the son of Margaret (née Young), a classically-trained pianist, and Lawrence Peter Fogelberg, a high school band director who spent most of his career at Peoria Woodruff High School and Pekin High School. He started out in rock bands in Peoria.
After graduating from Woodruff High School in 1969, Dan Fogelberg studied theater arts and painting at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and began performing as a solo acoustic player in area coffeehouses. He was discovered in 1971 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. Fogelberg became a session musician who played with pop-folk artists like Van Morrison. In 1972, Fogelberg released his debut album Home Free with moderate success. Fogelberg’s second effort was much more successful: the 1974 Joe Walsh-produced album Souvenirs and its hit song “Part of the Plan” catapulted him to stardom.
His best-remembered songs include Longer; The Power of Gold, Leader of the Band and Same Old Lang Syne.
Billboard Top 40 Songs
#2 – Longer (1979)
#7 – Hard to Say (1981)
#9 – Same Old Lang Syne (1980)
#9 – Leader of the Band (1981)
#13 – The Language of Love (1984)
#18 – Run for the Roses (1982) — written for the 1982 Kentucky Derby
#21 – Heart Hotels (1980)
#23 – Missing You (1982)
#24 – The Power of Gold (1978) — produced with Tim Weisberg
#29 – Make Love Stay (1983)
#31 – Part of the Plan (1975)
Solo Discography
Home Free (1972)
Souvenirs (1974)
Captured Angel (1975)
Nether Lands (1977)
Phoenix (1979)
The Innocent Age (1981)
Greatest Hits (1982)
Windows and Walls (1984)
High Country Snows (1985)
Exiles (1987)
The Wild Places (1990)
Dan Fogelberg Live: Greetings from the West (1991)
River of Souls (1993)
Love Songs (1995)
Portrait ~ 4-CD Box Set Spanning 25 Years Of Music (1997)
Promises (1997)
Super Hits (1998)
The First Christmas Morning (1999)
Live: Something Old New Borrowed & Some Blues (2000)
The Very Best of Dan Fogelberg (2001)
The Essential Dan Fogelberg (2003)
Full Circle (2003)
Albums with Tim Weisberg
Twin Sons of Different Mothers (1978)
No Resemblance Whatsoever (1995)
See also …
danfogelberg.com (Official Site)
thelivinglegacy.net/wishes.html