Dan Fogelberg News

The leader of the band is doing surprisingly well following a bout with cancer.

In a weekend posting on his Website, hit-making folkie Dan Fogelberg announced he has beat back his prostate cancer to "an almost negligible level."

The singer-songwriter, best known for easy-going hits like "The Leader of the Band" and "Longer," was diagnosed with the disease last year, and started treatment 14 months ago.

"While we [Fogelberg and wife Jean] understand that what we're dealing with is a long-term condition that will have to be dealt with, monitored and treated for probably the rest of my life, we are terribly encouraged to have come so far, so fast," he writes on DanFogelberg.com.

"It has certainly been the most trying experience of our lives and yet has proven to be one of the most illuminating as well."

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed non-skin cancer in the United States, according to the Prostate Cancer Foundation. While the disease is not as deadly as lung cancer, which took the life of ABC news anchor Peter Jennings last week, if left undiagnosed, prostate cancer can be terminal.

However, over the last two decades, survival rates for prostate cancer have radically improved. According to a 2003 CDC fact sheet, the survival rate for the disease has increased from 67 percent to 97 percent.

Various treatments, including surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, have proven effective in fighting prostate cancer, which typically afflicts men in their sixties and seventies.

Fogelberg, who just turned 54 Saturday, says he has "no plans to return to the concert stage or the recording studio in the foreseeable future" and remains hopeful for a full recovery.

"For now, I prefer to keep my options open," the Colorado resident said, leaving the door open for a possible tour. Prior to his 2004 diagnosis, he released Full Circle, his first new solo studio album since 1993.

Fogelberg rose to fame in the late 1970s after touring with Van Morrison and the Eagles. He achieved his greatest fame with the early 1980s releases Pheonix and The Innocent Age, which together spawned five Top 20 singles, including the number two hit, "Longer." He has sold more than 15 million albums in the U.S.

"I cannot adequately express my gratitude to all of the thousands of wonderful people who have sent us such incredibly moving and supportive emails," he writes on his site.

"I am quite certain that the love and prayers that have been directed to us from all over the world have had a tangible and potent healing effect. It is truly overwhelming and humbling to realize how many lives my music has touched so deeply all these years."