Not a typical post today. I learned this evening, through an email from my father, that Dan Fogelberg had passed away this morning after a 3+ year battle with prostate cancer. I had been aware of his cancer, but had not heard any news about him in quite some time.
I was first exposed to the music of Dan Fogelberg on a youth group trip in the early 1980s. My friend Jeff had cassettes (this is back when music playback devices operated in a strictly linear fashion) of of Fogelberg’s music which we played many times in our church van. “Part of the Plan” was the first song I remember hearing.
The night before my first college final, I travelled to a town 90 miles away with two of my new friends to see a solo acoustic concert performance by Fogelberg in a major arena. (I would like to say that this was not characteristic of my dedication to scholastic endeavors during that period of my life, but I won’t lie to you.)
In the remaining years of my college experience, I spent many an hour cutting my teeth on the acoustic guitar as I tried to break down and then learn to play Fogelberg’s songs.
A significant part of my musical youth was tied to Fogelberg, and I was certainly sad to hear he had lost his battle with cancer.
