A generation of local bands and nightclub goers are remembering the life of a man who brought the music to Monmouth.
William L.R. (Bill) Fry of Monmouth, who owned and operated the popular Center Stage music night club in the 1980s and 90s, died Wednesday, July 5 at OSF Holy Family Medical Center, Monmouth. He was 70.
Fry’s impact on local music was profound. He managed multiple music groups through his Tour Coordinations Company. He also built a recording studio, The Music Factory, where he recorded many talented musicians.
But for many, it was Center Stage that put Fry on the music map. Local musician and Galesburg Radio on-air personality Chris Postin describes Center Stage as the region’s Studio 54.
“Live rock bands, beautiful girls and just being in the coolest place with all the coolest people.” — Chris Postin, on Center Stage
“As most Gen X’ers in the 80s, I was obsessed with getting into Center Stage,” Postin said. “It was our region’s Studio 54, right? Anyone who was ANYONE went to Center Stage.
“I heard story after story from older friends who were able to gain entrance even though the minimum age was 18 and they were way younger than that. Live rock bands, beautiful girls and just being in the coolest place with all the coolest people.”
Fry was ‘a force in the local music scene’
Fry and his wife LuAnn opened Down Home in 1978 and later changed the name to Center Stage.
Postin said he was 16 when he first gained entrance into the Monmouth nightclub.
“It made a huge impact on me,” Postin said. “The regional band, Lynn Allen, was playing. Q93 played some of their music — “Last Night”…”Domino.” I just remember Bill Peiffer, the lead singer, had such control over the audience.
“They ate up everything they played — everything he said. Right then, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. To be in a band. Play music. Have a hold on audiences just like that.”
Obituary: William L.R. “Bill” Fry ~ June 5, 1953 — July 5, 2023
Five years later, Postin had the opportunity to play at Center Stage in a local band called Vandal.
“We even traded playing gigs there for recording time in Bill Fry’s studio and we recorded an EP Cassette that you might find on YouTube somewhere.” Postin said.
“Bill was definitely a force in the local music scene.”
Steve Davis and his band Dark Crystal were regulars at Center Stage. He recalls Fry bringing in regional favorite bands like Lynn Allen and and Monterey to Monmouth, in addition to local favorites like Eternity Road and Dezeray.
“You had to go to Peoria or the Quad Cities to find such a venue, andGalesburg didn’t have a club like it,” Davis says. “He kept it running for many years, but in the 80s it was THE destination for live music for Galesburg-area fans.
“He provided some great times and helped make many memories for a LOT of area people.”
Center Stage was open for 25-plus years, but peaked in 80s and early 90s. In the 90s, Center Stage transformed into having DJs.
“In the 90’s is when he switched from live music to having a DJ,” said his daughter Gena Fry Hasten. “ He was always adjusting to what his customers wanted, the reason he stayed in business for so many years.
“When times got tough, he would switch and take a different avenue and approach to keeping his love for the art of music alive and provide financially for our family. He even wrote a song about it — The Midwestern Family Man.”
He never left Monmouth
Hasten said a recording studio and a computer technology shop remain in the Center Stage building.
“Dad never quit,” Hasten said. “If there was an issue and he was veered off track in the business world, he found another way to make it.
“(He was) the hardest working, determined, loving, generous and hard headed man I have and will ever know. He never left Monmouth and always wanted it to be a good place to raise a family.”
Fry graduated from Monmouth High School in 1971. He purchased his first guitar in 1963 with money from his paper route. He played in bands and groups for many years. Some of the bands he played in were Inside Out; Bill, Bill and Bob and the Lee Ruey Band. Bill also worked as a car salesman with Russ Motor Sales, Woods-Harrison Ford and Dee Harrison Ford.
His obituary says “he loved to joke around, but had a very determined and hard-headed personality. He loved hard and played hard. He loved his animals, his music; but most importantly he loved his family.”
Fry is survived by his wife LuAnn, daughters Gena Hasten of Monmouth and Jenny Fry of Galesburg, brother Chuck Fry of Monmouth; and grandchildren, Jaylee, Jacey and Jake Hasten.
A celebration of life for Bill Fry will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 15 at the Warren County Farm Bureau, 1000 N. Main St. in Monmouth. There will be no funeral services.
