Everything about Donald Fagen totally explained
Donald Jay Fagen (born
January 10,
1948 in
Passaic, New Jersey) is an
American musician and
songwriter, best known as co-writer, co-founder, singer, and pianist with the
rock band Steely Dan. Fagen is a 1965 graduate of
South Brunswick High School in
South Brunswick, New Jersey.
Career
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 upstate New York 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 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. 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 of 2006, Fagen embarked on his first-ever solo tour to support the album. This theater tour of the northeast, 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.
(External Link
) 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.
Discography
Awards
In 2001, both Fagen and Becker received Honorary Doctor of Music degrees from
Berklee College of Music. They both accepted their degrees in person.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Donald Fagen'.
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