Donald Fagen
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Donald Jay Fagen (born January 10, 1948 in Passaic, New Jersey) is an American musician and songwriter who is best known as co-writer and co-founder of the jazz rock band Steely Dan.
He and Walter Becker founded the group in 1971. They comprised the core of the band and co-wrote all the group's music; on tour and record, Becker played bass and Fagen played keyboards, as well as performing almost all of the lead vocals on their recordings.
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.
After the group's 1981 breakup, Fagen released his solo debut album, The Nightfly (1982), which has been favorably compared to his Steely Dan work. 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 & Soul Revue. His second solo album, the underated Kamakiriad (1993) was produced by Walter 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 and a live concert DVD.
Recording sessions for Fagen's third solo album began in August, 2004. The album is expected to be released some time in 2005. Rumored to be performing on the album are Wayne Krantz (guitar), Jon Herington (guitar), Keith Carlock (drums), Freddy Washington (bass), Ted Baker (piano), and Chris Potter (saxophone).
External links
- donaldfagen.com
- Complete discography (http://members.home.nl/hans.verlouw/SteelyDanDatabase/index.htm)