13 August 1951 — painter and singer Dan Fogelberg was born in Peoria IL.
He helped define the light rock era of the 1970s and 1980s and is perhaps best known for his songs “Longer” (1979), “Leader of the Band” (1979), and “Same Old Lang Syne” (1980).
The youngest of three sons born to Lawrence Peter Fogelberg, a band director at Bradley University in Peoria, and of Swedish and Scottish descent, as a child Daniel Grayling Fogelberg taught himself to play a Hawaiian slide guitar that his grandfather had given him. He also learned to play the piano.
His first big gig was in Jackson MS when he was 23, in 1974 at City Auditorium in Jackson MS:
https://youtu.be/JTAEvRx-omk (57 minutes; 22 February 1974)
That venue sits 2,500 and his show was sold out. Fogelberg was surprised because up until then he played at venues seating less than 100.
His first hit was Part of the Plan in 1974. His first top ten album was Phoenix in 1979. His critical and commercial peak came in 1981 with the album The Innocent Age.
On 16 December 2007, Dan Fogelberg died at age 56 at his home on Deer Isle, Maine. His ashes were scattered off coastal Maine, into the Atlantic Ocean. Had he lived, today he would be 71.
Map, Deer Isle: Google Maps
Fogelberg was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame at Red Rocks Amphitheater, 17 miles SW of Denver.
Map: Google Maps
Today in Peoria, there are:
1 — a Dan Fogelberg Memorial:
https://goo.gl/maps/69WKcbdNGx5q72Sc7
2 — the Dan Fogelberg Parkway; it runs beside his alma mater, Woodruff High School:
https://goo.gl/maps/7HpkuCVgaPr8KTVx7
3 — Dan Fogelberg Convenience Store, where on Christmas Eve 1975, Fogelberg bumped into Jill Anderson Greulich:
https://goo.gl/maps/WRiWrUkQC68CxHjx8
In 1975 it was called the Convenient Food Mart.
An alphabetical listing of his songs can be found at:
Some of my personal favorites include:
Leader of the Band (album, The Innocent Age) — https://youtu.be/qQmkoMZyvOQ
{Theresa is moved by this one. It brings tears to her eyes as she thinks of her dad.}
Longer (album, Phoenix) — https://youtu.be/ImlDHQkPf8Q
{A former girlfriend. UCSB. December 1980.}
Same Old Lang Syne (album, The Innocent Age) — https://youtu.be/cfAxWtcfDUk
This was Christmas Eve 1975. The beer was Oly, Olympia, and the girl was Jill Anderson. Her marriage was strained. By the time the song was released in 1980 she had already divorced. Jim and Jill Greulich now live happily in St. Louis.
She kept quiet all those years about her part as the inspiration of the song because she didn’t want it to “overshadow Dan. It wasn’t about me. It was about Dan. It was Dan’s song.”
Here is a 2018 interview with her:
The St. Louis Woman Who Inspired an Iconic Christmas Song
Jill Anderson Greulich and Dan Fogelberg share their thoughts on this song — https://youtu.be/AoTNuDTRaP0
Only the Heart May Know (with Emmylou Harris; album, The Innocent Age) — https://youtu.be/0LufsRbefZI
{A very special high school friend}
The Reach (album, The Innocent Age) — https://youtu.be/HEL_qqXGjHU
Along the Road (album, Phoenix) — https://youtu.be/e3os1EUnC4I
Hard to Say (album, The Innocent Age) —
Part of the Plan (album, Souvenirs) — https://youtu.be/w5x9_vsrKZo
Nexus (album, The Innocent Age) — https://youtu.be/LjYSrbLTifk
The Innocent Age (album, The Innocent Age) — https://youtu.be/1OBihThNiJE
Part of the Plan (album, Souvenirs) —
Christ the King (album, The First Christmas Morning) — https://youtu.be/gl4Y4FWWkn0
The First Christmas Morning (album, The First Christmas Morning) — https://youtu.be/8YoiZhh_VBk
Here is an August 1997 interview in San Diego:
