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Peoria native Dan Fogelberg remembered by those who knew him when

Posted December 16, 2007 10:00 pm

Jordan Wilson

<p class="MsoNormal">Before he ever played the famed Carnegie Hall in New York, Dan Fogelberg played basements in central Illinois.

The iconic Peoria native, who notched numerous multiplatinum albums as one of the most famous singer/songwriters of the 1970s, died Sunday morning after battling prostate cancer since 2004.

He made it to downtown Rockford at least twice. He performed in 1982 at the MetroCentre and 2002 at the Coronado Theatre.

A message on the singer's Web site yesterday recalled the 56-year-old's fight with the disease.

"Dan left us this morning at 6:00 a.m.," the statement read. "He fought a brave battle with cancer and died peacefully at home in Maine with his wife, Jean, at his side. His strength, dignity, and grace in the face of the daunting challenges of this disease were an inspiration to all who knew him."

The music industry lost a man who epitomized light rock, a man whose emotive lyrics and soothing voice touched many.

Well-known local musician Barry Cloyd remembers playing guitar with him in "jam sessions" and going on double dates with Fogelberg while in Peoria.

And then Fogelberg's career took off. "It was a real interesting thing to watch," Cloyd said Sunday. "It didn't happen to everybody."

Wendy Blickenstaff graduated with Fogelberg in 1969 at Woodruff High School. Now the head counselor at that same school, Blickenstaff can't forget the most minute details some 35 years later.

He was incredibly gifted, she remembered. He could sing, act and was sharp in math. Blinkenstaff flashed back to sitting on a set of basement steps, watching Fogelberg's first band, The Clan, perform.

Not even his eyes had escaped her.

"From a women's prospective, he had gorgeous eyes," she said on Sunday, pausing. "Those huge brown eyes. You could look into his soul."

After the two placed in the state in speech and graduated together, they both moved on to the University of Illinois to study theater.

Bluntly, Fogelberg told her he was pursuing a music career.

"He said, 'Wendy, I'm leaving school. I'm going to California,'" Blickenstaff said.

"It was very hard for his parents to say, 'You don't have to go to college anymore, even though you're smarter than a whip.'"

While still in college, he was realized by an-up-and-coming agent, the same one who would go on to manage the Eagles.

Fogelberg made his move.

Four years later, he was a household name and went on to produce such hits as "Leader of the Band," "Same Old Lang Syne," "Longer" and "The Power of Gold."

In a June 2002 interview with the Journal Star, Fogelberg said he had no complaints about his career.

"I've been blessed. To be able to write and play music for a living is more than I could have ever thought to ask out of life," he said. "I was given the opportunity to never have to grow up ,and it's been great."

Cloyd can attest to the Fogelberg's great run. He's even covered some of his friend's songs.

"His music was so important and still is, and he was a big piece of that for people all over the world," Cloyd said. "That's a heck of a legacy."

Jordan Wilson can be reached at 686-3251 or jwilson@pjstar.com.

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Home Free, Oct. 1972

Souvenirs, Oct. 1974 (double platinum)

Captured Angels, Sept. 1975

Nether Lands, May 1977 (double platinum)

Twin Sons of Different Mothers, Aug. 1978 (with Tim Weisberg)

Phoenix, Nov. 1979 (double platinum)

The Innocent Age, Aug. 1981 (double platinum)

Greatest Hits, Oct. 1982 (triple platinum)

Windows and Walls, Jan. 1984

High Country Snows, April 1985

Exiles, June 1987

The Wild Places, Aug. 1990

Dan Fogelberg Live: Greetings From The West, Oct. 1991

River of Souls, Sept. 1993

No Resemblance Whatsovever, Oct. 1995 (with Tim Weisberg)

Portrait (Box Set), June 1997

The First Christmas Morning, Oct. 1999

Live: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed ... And Some Blues, May 2000

The Very Best of Dan Fogelberg, July 2001

Full Circle, May 2003

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