"Leader of the Band" is a song written by Dan Fogelberg from his 1981 album "The Innocent Age". The song was written as a tribute to his father, Lawrence Fogelberg, a musician and the leader of a band, who was still alive at the time the song was released. Lawrence died in August 1982.
All four songs off the record also reached the Top 10 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart, with "Leader of the Band" reaching number 1 on that chart, with the song getting a new lease of life after a Spanish speaking artist covered it two decades hence.