Dan Fogelberg

[EasyFeeling]

I'm sorry to read about your brother-in-law, tbs. Getting such sad news just before Christmas is terrible.

I liked Dan Fogelberg's music and I'm sorry he passed away.

[Mrs Frey]

I'm so sorry to read about Dan's passing. I've only heard one of his songs, "Longer", but it made an impression on me nevertheless. It's very beautiful. He was too young to have passed on, and whenever I hear of someone having succumbed to cancer, it saddens me greatly. My empathy goes out to his family and friends during this extremely painful time.

TBSF, I'm sorry that your brother-in-law has also been diagnosed with prostate cancer. I hope that he responds well to his treatment. May the Lord provide you and your family with the necessary strength to get through this trying time.

[Perfect Little Sister]

Sadly, routine testing for prostate cancer isn't generally thought about until age 60.

It is so easy to screen for prostate cancer, I urge every man reading this board to have this done. And women, get your men to go in. It requires a simple blood test where the level of "PSA" or prostate specific antigen is measured. If the level is considered high, further testing can be done to find out why.

My father was not yet 60 when his doctor was ordering other tests and added on the PSA screening. It came back high. He had a very aggressive form of cancer which would have killed him inside of 5 years without treatment. He had his prostate removed as well as the nearby lymph nodes. The only place they found any cancer cells was in the tumor itself. Within a few months the cancer was back. He then had radiation therapy followed by hormone therapy (to starve the cancer of testosterone) but they only held out a 15% chance that this would help. He is still cancer free 5 years after he finished radiation. You and yours hang in there TBSF...it can be beat!

[Freypower]

It's good to know that many men surivive cancer (my father, as many of you know, didn't).

Condolences to Dan's family.

Can I also mention that Frank Zappa died of prostate cancer in December 1993, just before his 53rd birthday.

[sodascouts]

I was just listening to his music tonight online and realizing that I'd heard a lot more of his songs than I thought I had. I didn't recognize the titles "Longer" and "Leader of the Band" until I went to YouTube and listened to them - and realized they were two familiar songs that I'd always found very moving. I think I will ask for a CD for Christmas.

Here's a few photos of him with Joe and Glenn:







There is a site set up for people to leave condolences to his family and their thoughts about him and his music here:

http://www.thelivinglegacy.net/wishes.html

[Brooke]

Thanks for those pictures, Soda! Wasn't he good looking?! Like a couple other long-haired, mustached musicians there!

I have 5 or 6 of his early vinyl albums and played them constantly along with the Eagles, Jackson Browne, and Fleetwood Mac back in the day. He wrote lots of beautiful music and was such a talented man. I think Souvenirs and Home Free are my favorites. I have The Very Best of on cd and it has all the most popular songs.

What a loss at such a young age. My condolences to his family.

[thelongrun]

I just found out this and, as I just said to some frinds of mine, my heart is a raisin t right now for this great Songwriter, the best of the best in the line of Eagles, Jackson, J.D., J. Taylor... His Music was around in my best years as now and always.

[DonFan]

This is an online interview I found, from Richard Bowden, Don's longtime friend, who toured with Dan:

Leader of the Band Dies at 56 (INTERVIEW)

Dan Fogelberg, soft rock icon of the 70s and 80s, like so many other stars as Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Joni Mitchell and John Denver, to name a few, has a musical connection to Linden – and Music City, Texas. With the passing of Dan to the ‘heavenly orchestra’ last month at 56 (and such a huge loss to the music world) we asked his Linden, TX connection, MTM member and president of the Music City Texas Theater, Richard Bowden (who toured with Fogelberg for 2 years in the ‘70s) to share his thoughts and memories about the ‘Leader of the Band’.

Richard said, “Dan was a lot of fun. His music, having the soft, sensitive, romantic depth that it had, might lead one to believe that behind the scenes he might be quiet, introspective, somber or even recluse. Quite the contrary. He liked to party with the rest of us. Understand that this was the heyday of the ‘80s west coast country/rock, so partying was frequent and extensive.” He continued, “I made him laugh a lot, so we became buddies early on…” (Richard has some down-right hilarious stories, which would NOT be suitable for gentle ears, so they have been omitted – sorry! But those of you who know Richard can just use your imagination!) “I didn’t know how popular he was at the beginning, so when I got the job, our first gig was at the Omni, a 10,000 seater in Atlanta (GA)….I was in the dressing room and thought I heard female voices. I cracked the door open…and was deafened by the screams of about 50…groupies who had managed to make it backstage…they had their arms extended through the fencing and were squealing like ‘in a Beatles movie’ just at me looking out of the dressing room! If Dan had appeared in the hallway, they would have probably torn down the partition. I thought to myself, “Wow, I must have gotten a good gig!” It was a GREAT gig…he even let me have “solo” time on stage during his show in which I provided some ‘comedy relief’ with my funny songs.”

More seriously, Richard talked about the prostate cancer that claimed Dan’s life. “What tears me up about Dan’s death is that prostate cancer is one of the most preventable and curable forms when caught early. Every man over 40 should have regular PSA (prostate specific antigens) tests which will signal any impeding problems or risks. I just hate that he somehow let is slip up on him until it was too late to prevent or cure. I will always hold my tenure with Dan as one of the high points in my career as a guitarist. I really hate thinking about the fact that I’ll never get to see him or talk to him again. His music touched me as well as millions of others. I feel privileged to have been on the inside. He was a great friend, and a great guy.”

[Brooke]

Thanks for that, DF! That was a nice article.

Dan was soooooo gorgeous back then (loved that long hair he had ) and still quite good looking. Such a senseless loss.

[glenneaglesfan]

Thanks to Freypower's link in the Eagles and Grammies thread, I found this. What a moving gesture.

http://undercover.com.au/News-Story.aspx?id=4131

He was a fine looking man. So sad.