Singer Daniel O'Donnell, a household name on the Irish and UK music charts, brought his brief U.S. Spring Tour to the Peoria Civic Center Theater this afternoon.

O'Donnell, who has twenty UK Top 40 albums, as well as fifteen Top 40 singles, has sold over 10 million records to date. Earlier this year, he became the first artist to have an album in the UK charts for 24 consecutive weeks. O'Donnell stopped to take this photograph and sign a compact disk for my collection as he made his way from his hotel to the venue.

O'Donnell's singing partner, Mary Duff, was also gracious and took a moment to pose for this shot as she arrived at the stage door entrance.

Many people consider Jackie Joyner-Kersee the greatest female athlete of the 20th Century. Joyner-Kersee is a three-time Olympic gold medalist (plus three other Olympics medals) and world record holder in the women's heptathlon. She was in Quincy, Illinois, this past weekend to serve as Race Marshal for the Bridge the Gap to Health Race.

Joyner-Kersee gladly signed several 8x10 shots and two magazine (Time and SI) covers for me and posed for this shot during Friday's Race Expo. The following morning, she "medaled" me as I crossed the finish line of the Race's half-marathon.

Grammy-award winning songstress Debby Boone is in St. Louis this weekend for a concert at the Bezmes Family Theater on the campus of Lindenwood University. Boone's show features the music of Rosemary Clooney.

Boone, who is best known for her 1977 hit, "You Light Up My Life," gladly stopped to sign a couple of photographs and pose for this shot as she arrived in town earlier today. "Life" was a number one song for ten weeks on the Billboard charts in '77 and helped Boone earn a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

While waiting for Boone, another Grammy Award winner, Fantasia, passed by me. She was in town for a Mother's Day show at Chaifetz Arena. Although I already have a photo with her, I asked for a new pose. Unfortunately, her manager told me, "we don't take no pictures in no airports." OK.

Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey are on the road one last time before calling it a career. Their current tour stopped at Sangamon Auditorium in Springfield, Illinois, Sunday evening as they paid tribute to former band mate Mary Travers.

Following the show, Yarrow set up shop in the Auditorium's lobby to greet fans and sign autographs, however, Stookey wasn't present. I made a quick decision to check the stage door, and a good decision it was as Stookey was already in his rental car preparing to depart to St. Louis to catch a flight early the next morning. Even though a light rain was falling, he was kind enough to sign a couple of 8 x 10s and step out of the car to pose for this shot.




Back inside, the line was long for Yarrow as he continued to meet and greet fans with his usual warm and welcoming demeanor. Once I reached the table, it was like meeting an old friend as he joked with me and added his signature to the 8 x 10s and to a copy of his book, Puff the Magic Dragon.

Ron White, an original member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, was in Springfield, Illinois, Friday night for a show at The Center. White stopped on his way to dinner at the local Bennigan's to pose for this shot and sign an 8 x 10. He was sporting some extra snazzy saddle shoes and I noted their attractiveness, to which he replied with a grin, "them's my drinkin' shoes."

I then headed north about an hour to Bloomington, Illinois, to get this photograph with Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin who was in concert at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts. Colvin, who attended SIU-Carbondale, gladly signed a copy of her 1996 release, "A Few Small Repairs," as she departed the venue. The disk features "Sunny Came Home," the song that earned her two Grammy's for Record of the Year and for Song of the Year.