Music Icons Murals
The old Fargo City Auditorium at the corner of First Avenue South and Broadway, which housed the Crystal Ballroom on its second floor, was demolished in 1962. It was the site of many performances of artist who are now icons: Guy Lombardo, Benny Goodman, the Dorsey Brothers, Louis Armstrong, Lawrence Welk's orchestra, and all the the artists in the Fargo Music Icon’s Murals.
A conversation over beers in a local taproom between friends kept bumping up against the stories of how Fargo found its way into the lives of icons of American music. A Grammy award winning album recorded steps away from where the two were sitting. A Nobel Laureate having once bussed tables down the block. One of America’s most sultry voices first being heard on local radio. And one of the greatest music tragedies giving rise to a local teen becoming one of the first teen heartthrobs. After a couple rounds it was decided that Fargo’s place in music history needed to be honored. And the Music Icon’s mural series was born. The completed Duke Ellington mural and info about future murals of Peggy Lee and Bobby Vee are featured on this site. Bob Dylan mural plans were shelved when an international graffiti artist gifted the community with a Dylan mural, epic and iconic in its own right. With the artist’s blessing, it is featured as part of the Fargo Music Icons Murals.
Fargo Music Icons Murals
Celebrating the intersection the Fargo-Moorhead community has had with four American music and cultural icons.
Duke Ellington
Recorded a Grammy Award winning album in Fargo
Peggy Lee
Started her decades long career in Fargo
Bobby Vee
Fargo teen took the stage in Moorhead the “Day the Music Died”
Bob Dylan
Nobel Laureate spent a summer washing dishes and playing music in Fargo