When Irving Azoff co-founded IAG in 2020, he envisioned the company as a conduit to enrich and expand the musical legacies of acts he had long admired, like Dean Martin and Nat “King” Cole, and to burnish the careers of artist contemporaries he had had decades-long associations with, such as The Beach Boys, Linda Ronstadt and David Crosby.
But with IAG’s new partnership with the estate of Dan Fogelberg, Azoff is drawing on one of the deepest professional and personal relationships of his life. He and the late singer-songwriter dropped out of the University of Illinois together in the early 1970s to come to Los Angeles, moving into a one-bedroom apartment in West Hollywood from which Azoff oversaw Dan’s nascent career.
Under his guidance, Dan, who died in December 2007 at age 56 from cancer, became one of the leading singer-songwriters of the ’70s and ’80s. For nearly 20 years, he was a mainstay on adult contemporary radio, scoring such top 10 hits as “Longer,” “Heart Hotels,” “Same Old Lang Syne,” “Leader of the Band,” “Make Love Stay” and “Rhythm of the Rain.”
IAG has acquired the controlling interests in a broad range of Fogelberg’s rights, including name, image, likeness, sound recordings, audiovisual works and music publishing. The company declined to reveal the purchase price or the exact percentage it owns. His widow, Jean Fogelberg, controls the rest.
“We started Iconic [because] we wanted to have a place for clients and friends, but none of it goes deeper than Dan,” says Azoff, who notes that he’s still reeling from Dan’s untimely death. “He was my closest friend. He played piano at my wedding when we walked down the aisle. We struggled together; we struck gold together.”
Nearly 16 years after Dan’s death, Azoff says it’s time to reintroduce the artist to a new generation. “His catalog and songs stand the test of time,” he says.
For Jean, who married Dan in 2002, the time was right to sell his share of his assets and partner on his music. “I’ve been watching Hipgnosis and all these other companies that have been buying up [intellectual property], and I wouldn’t have done it with any other company,” she says. “When Irving approached me with Iconic, it was pretty much a no-brainer. They’re taking a huge weight off my shoulders.”
IAG is in the process of cataloging Dan’s work. “It’s going to take us a minute,” Azoff says. “We’ll do it ourselves. We have to get permission from Sony,” which owns Dan’s recorded masters. Since his death, a two-CD hits compilation, The Definitive Anthology, was released in 2016, and a tribute album featuring Garth Brooks (who considers Dan one of his major influences), Zac Brown, Jimmy Buffett and the Eagles arrived in 2017. That same year saw the release of Live at Carnegie Hall, a recording of the singer’s 1979 appearance at the venerable venue, and Part of the Plan, a musical featuring Dan’s music that premiered in Nashville but was waylaid by the pandemic. Jean says the creators plan to present the play in London before bringing it to America.
Azoff says IAG’s acquisition includes previously unreleased material, such as live recordings and demos of unfinished songs, although it’s too soon to say whether any of that material will be released. “We’re going to take it all and make the big decisions,” he says, “as if Dan were making the decisions.”
One entry point for introducing Dan to a new audience will be through film/TV synchs. IAG president Jimmy Edwards cites the use of another artist on its roster, Ronstadt, and her song “Long, Long Time,” in a pivotal episode of HBO’s miniseries The Last of Us earlier this year. “It exploded her streaming,” Edwards says of the song, which topped Billboard’s Rock Digital Song Sales chart. “A lot of people experienced her music for the first time that way.”
Edwards would also like to renew Dan’s relationship with the Kentucky Derby. In 1980, he recorded “Run for the Roses,” a song that ABC commissioned for its TV coverage of the horse race. The song, which was associated with the event for years, reached No. 3 on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1982. “We really want to bring that song back to the forefront,” Edwards says.
While Dan is best known for his poignant ballads, Jean hopes to show a more well-rounded picture of him as an artist, including highlighting some of his harder-edged songs. Her husband led two blues bands and demonstrated his talents as a multi-instrumentalist during a progressive bluegrass period — or “newgrass,” as it’s sometimes called — highlighted by his seminal 1985 album, High Country Snows.
“It always bothered him” that he wasn’t widely known for his musical breadth, Jean says. To remedy that, IAG is already in talks with filmmakers about a documentary that would cover his rich history. “Most people know him as a singer-songwriter,” Edwards says. “I don’t think most people know what a great guitar player he was.”
Jean adds that she feels nothing but relief as she turns her attention to writing a biography of her husband, based in part on 22 hours she captured of “Dan talking about his life.” After more than 15 years of handling his website and overseeing his music, she says, “Thank goodness help is on the way.” And she feels the move has Dan’s blessing. “I remember the main thing he told me about Irving was, ‘When I’m gone, if you need anything, ask Irving. He’ll be there for you.’”
