The Leader of the Band

The Leader Of The Band

I was a pretty mixed up kid at age 16.

I had no idea who I was and was struggling to find someone who saw the world like I did.

One day I went to the local record store, The Mail Bag, in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Someone told me about this singer/songwriter named Dan Fogelberg.

I’d never heard him before but his music was about to rock my world.

I picked up an album called “Souvenirs.”

I took it to a party that night at a girl named Chris Hacketts duplex.

She had a record player in the back bedroom, so a group of us took the plastic off the album, put the needle on the record and this amazing voice came out the speakers.

It wasn’t just Fogelberg’s voice that grabbed my attention, I’d never heard lyrics as deep, personal and well thought out as his.

I remember we all cried, seriously.

I bought every album he had.

I became known for playing his music in my red Datsun 510 with the “SuperTuner” speakers blasting around the streets of Hillsboro.

I had a giant poster of the guy in the house I rented with some other guys.

If there was a Fogelberg Factoid, I knew it.

I sang a song he sang at our wedding.

It’s called “Since You’ve Asked” and it told the story of Kathy and my relationship.

She loved him too and I bet when I die she will play a lot of his music at my memorial service.

Onc time the singer came to Eugene to perform.

I was a news anchor and had the opportunity to interview him.

I jumped on it but at the last minute he had to cancel.

Probably a good thing, I would have embarrassed myself telling him how much he meant to me.

Every time he performed in Oregon we were there.

His concert in Jacksonville, stands out as the best.

It was just him.

No band.

Die hard fans.

And that music that filled the sky and touched the hearts of his fans.

In 2007 Fogelberg died of Prostate Cancer.

Today is that anniversary.

18 years ago.

It still makes me tear up.

When Dan died I was on a roller coaster of prostate cancer screenings that up until 2010 turned up nothing.

Knowing he had died from it scared me when my number was picked.

I admire a lot of people in the music industry but there was only one Dan Fogelberg.

I often used to say, I think he saved my life.

He put words to my feelings.

He taught me that I too am good with words and that going deeper than most people are comfortable, is not weird, it’s who we are.

I encourage you to look up a few of his songs and just listen.

which ones? We’ll “Since You’ve Asked, The Netherlands and Souvenirs” would be my top choices.

How amazing that he got to touch so many people in his lifetime.

He will never know all the stories still told.

He doesn’t know the relationships formed over his songs.

And he will never know how much a mixed up young man, found his anchor in Fogelberg’s music.

Thanks Dan.