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 jazz-rock band Steely Dan.
Fagen is a 1965 graduate of South Brunswick High School in
South Brunswick, New Jersey.[1]
Career
Steely Dan
Fagen and Walter Becker founded Steely Dan in August
1972. They initially comprised 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 on the 1988 Michael J. Fox film, Bright Lights, Big City.
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.
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.[1]
Fagen joined Becker for a Steely Dan/Michael McDonald tour the following summer.
Donald Fagen's third solo album Morph the Cat won a grammy award for "Best Surround Sound Album" at the 2007 Grammy
Awards.
Elliot Scheiner, surround mix engineer; Darcy Proper, surround mastering engineer; Donald Fagen, surround producer
All three of Fagen's albums are set to be released in a special MVI (Music Video Interactive) boxed set. Each album features a
DTS 5.1, Dolby 5.1 and PCM Stereo mix, 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. [2]
References
External links
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