AP Reports:
Dan Fogelberg, the singer and songwriter whose hits "Leader of the Band" and "Same Old Lang Syne" helped define the soft-rock era, died Sunday at his home in Maine after battling prostate cancer. He was 56.
His death was announced Sunday on the singer's Web site.
"Dan left us this morning at 6 a.m. He fought a brave battle with cancer and died peacefully at home in Maine with his wife, Jean, at his side," it read. "His strength, dignity and grace in the face of the daunting challenges of this disease were an inspiration to all who knew him."
Fogelberg discovered he had advanced prostate cancer in 2004. In a statement then, he thanked fans for their support: "It is truly overwhelming and humbling to realize how many lives my music has touched so deeply all these years. ... I thank you from the very depths of my heart."
Fogelberg's music was powerful in its simplicity. He didn't rely on the volume of his voice to convey his emotions; instead, they came through in the soft, tender delivery and his poignant lyrics. Songs like "Same Old Lang Syne" -- in which a man reminisces after meeting an old girlfriend by chance during the holidays -- became classics not only because of his performance, but also for the engaging storyline.
Fogelberg's heyday was in the 1970s and early '80s, when he scored several platinum and multiplatinum records fueled by such hits as "The Power of Gold" and "Leader of the Band," a touching tribute he wrote to his father, a bandleader.
This saddens me. I recently bought a new turntable and had been enjoying the LP's I still had that never got replaced by the equivalent CD. One I listened to just the other day was Fogelberg's Windows and Walls. I hadn't heard the album in maybe 12 years but I found I still had it in the memory banks. That speaks to Fogelberg's quality as a songwriter. I preferred his folk/pop leaning material to his more western/country stuff, and my pop music tastes drifted in another direction over the years. But he was a large part of my teenage music listening, and I remember fondly seeing him play a great show at the Fox Theater in St. Louis.
Rest in peace.
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