Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

Donald Fagen

Donald Jay Fagen (born January 10, 1948 in Passaic, New Jersey) is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and front man of the rock band Steely Dan. He is also the co-founder, keyboard and melodica player, and the co-writer. Fagen is a 1965 graduate of South Brunswick High School in South Brunswick, New Jersey. He is a first cousin of actor Alan Rosenberg.

Career

Pre-Steely Dan

Fagen met his long-time musical partner, the other half of Steely Dan, Walter Becker, while attending Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Fagen and Becker, along with now famous actor/comedian Chevy Chase, formed a college band called The Leather Canary. At the time, Chase called the group "a bad jazz band." Fagen and Becker's youthful career also included a stint with Jay and the Americans under pseudonyms, and in the early 1970s, as pop songwriters, prior to forming Steely Dan.

Steely Dan

Fagen and Walter Becker founded Steely Dan in August 1972. They initially formed the core of the band, and co-wrote all the group's music; on tour and record, Becker played bass (and later lead guitar) and Fagen played keyboards, as well as performing almost all of the lead vocals on their recordings. (Fagen and Becker initially met at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, in New York State's Hudson Valley in the 60's.)

After releasing their third LP in 1974 the other members gradually left the band and it evolved into a studio project headed by Becker and Fagen, who from that point on recorded their albums with the cream of America's jazz and rock session musicians. They scored their biggest success in 1977 with the platinum-selling album Aja.

Solo

After the group's 1981 breakup, Fagen released his solo debut album, The Nightfly (1982), which went platinum and yielded the top-twenty hit, "I.G.Y. (International Geophysical Year)." The Nightfly has been favorably compared to his Steely Dan work. He also contributed an original composition, "True Companion," to the 1981 animated cult film Heavy Metal. In 1986, Fagen was a co-producer of the off-Broadway soundtrack album The Gospel at Colonus. Another soundtrack contribution, "Century's End," appears along with an elaborately arranged version of the Jimmy Reed tune for which both the Jay McInerney novel and the James Brooks movie are named; the 1988 Michael J. Fox film, Bright Lights, Big City, for which Fagen also contributed the film's score. He wrote briefly for Premiere magazine, including witty pieces on Henry Mancini and Ennio Morricone. During the eighties, Fagen composed music for films and various other artists and toured with the New York Rock and Soul Revue. His second solo album, 1993's Kamakiriad, was produced by Becker. This led to their reunion as a writing team and the creation of a new touring version of Steely Dan. The following year Fagen co-produced Becker's solo debut, 11 Tracks of Whack.

The duo have kept Steely Dan going strong in its new formation and have since delighted their legion of fans with two more Steely Dan albums, the Grammy Award winning Two Against Nature (2000) and Everything Must Go (2003), as well as the live CD Alive in America (1995) and a live concert DVD.

Recording sessions for Fagen's third solo album, Morph the Cat, began in August 2004 and the album was released March 14th, 2006. Performing on the album are Wayne Krantz (guitar), Jon Herington (guitar), Keith Carlock (drums), Freddy Washington (bass), Ted Baker (piano), and Walt Weiskopf (sax). Upon its release, Morph the Cat received universal acclaim and was later named Album of the Year by Mix Magazine. Fagen was also given the Producer of the Year award. The 5.1 mix of "Morph the Cat" won the 2007 Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album.

In March 2006, Fagen embarked on his first-ever solo tour to support the album. This theater tour of the northeast (including one Canadian date in Toronto), the midwest, and the west coast played to sold-out houses and excellent reviews. Fagen's management also sold VIP packages for the tour, which included a pre-show party, premium seats, and access to the band's sound checks. This was mocked on his song writing partner Walter Becker's website. Fagen joined Becker for a Steely Dan/Michael McDonald tour the following summer.

All three of Fagen's albums Previously released on the DVDA format have now been released in Warners latest format MVI (Music Video Interactive) as a boxed set. Each album features a DTS 5.1, Dolby 5.1 and PCM Stereo mix but no MLP encoded track, along with bonus audio and video content. Customers will also be able to select any track or any portion of a track and use it as their mobile phone ringtone.