Donald Fagen

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Donald Jay Fagen (born January 10, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and musician who is the co-founder, lead singer, co-songwriter, and keyboardist of the rock band Steely Dan, formed in the early 1970s with musical partner Walter Becker. In addition to his work with Steely Dan, Fagen has released four solo albums, beginning with The Nightfly in 1982, which was nominated for seven Grammys.

In 2001, Fagen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Steely Dan. Following Becker's death in 2017, Fagen continues to tour using the band name, albeit reluctantly.

Early life

Fagen was born in Passaic, New Jersey, on January 10, 1948<ref name="AllMusic" /> to Jewish parents, descendants of immigrants from Russia, Latvia and Austria who had arrived in the USA in the early years of the 20th century.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref> His father was Joseph "Jerry" Fagen, an accountant, and his mother, Elinor (née Rosenberg), a homemaker who had been a swing singer in upstate New York's Catskill Mountains from childhood through her teens.<ref name="ReferenceA">Sweet, Steely Dan: Reelin' in the Years 7.</ref><ref name="Eminent">Template:Cite book</ref> His family moved to Fair Lawn, a small town near Passaic. When he was 10 years old, he moved with his parents and younger sister to Kendall Park, a newly constructed suburban section of South Brunswick, New Jersey. The transition upset him. He detested living in the suburbs.<ref>James L. Kelley, "Steely Dan's Donald Fagen: A case of mistaken self-identity, corrected by self-reformulation." In: E. Vanderheiden, & C.-H. Mayer (Eds.), Mistakes, errors and failures across cultures: Navigating potentials (pp. 91-107). Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2019, p. 97.</ref> He later recalled that it "was like a prison. I think I lost faith in [my parents'] judgment... It was probably the first time I realized I had my own view of life." His life in Kendall Park, including his teenage love of late-night radio,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> inspired his later album The Nightfly.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

Fagen became interested in rock and rhythm and blues in the late 1950s. The first record he bought was "Reelin' and Rockin' " by Chuck Berry.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> At age 11, his cousin, Barbara Cohen, recommended jazz music and Fagen went to the Newport Jazz Festival, becoming what he called a "jazz snob": "I lost interest in rock 'n' roll and started developing an anti-social personality."<ref name="ReferenceB">Sweet, Steely Dan: Reelin' in the Years 8.</ref> In the early 1960s, beginning at age 12, he often went to the Village Vanguard, where he was particularly impressed by Earl Hines, Willie "the Lion" Smith, and Bill Evans.<ref name="morrison">Template:Cite magazine</ref> He regularly took the bus to Manhattan to see performances by jazz musicians Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, and Miles Davis. He learned to play the piano, and he played baritone horn in the high school marching band.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> He developed a lifelong fondness for table tennis.<ref>Sweet, Steely Dan: Reelin' in the Years 9.</ref> In his late teens he was drawn to soul music, funk, Motown, and Sly and the Family Stone. He has also expressed admiration for the Boswell Sisters, Henry Mancini, and Ray Charles.<ref name="morrison" />

After graduating from South Brunswick High School in 1965, he enrolled at Bard College to study English literature, where he met<ref>Sweet, Steely Dan: Reelin' in the Years 10.</ref> Walter Becker in a coffee house in 1967.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Becker and Fagen attracted a revolving assortment of musicians, including future actor Chevy Chase, to form the bands Leather Canary, the Don Fagen Jazz Trio, and the Bad Rock Band.<ref name="I'm Chevy Chase...and You're Not">Fruchter, Rena. (2007). I'm Chevy Chase...and You're Not. Virgin Books.</ref> Fagen described his college bands as sounding like "the Kingsmen performing Frank Zappa material".<ref>Sweet, Steely Dan: Reelin' in the Years 12.</ref> None of the groups lasted long, but the partnership between Fagen and Becker did. The duo's early career included working with Jay and the Americans, for which they used pseudonyms. In the early 1970s they worked as pop songwriters for ABC/Dunhill Records, which released all of Steely Dan's 1970s albums.<ref name=":2" />

Career

Steely Dan

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Becker and Fagen began to form Steely Dan in the summer of 1970, responding to a Village Voice ad for "a bassist and keyboard player with jazz chops" placed by guitarist Denny Dias. Dias was immediately impressed by the pair's abilities, and especially that they already had a whole stack of original material.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> (Fans of Beat Generation literature, Fagen and Becker named the band after a steam-powered vibrator mentioned in the William S. Burroughs novel Naked Lunch.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>) The group's first lineup was assembled in December 1971 in Los Angeles, where Becker and Fagen had relocated to work as staff songwriters for ABC/Dunhill. Becker and Fagen formed the core of the band and wrote all the songs, with Becker on bass, and later lead guitar, and Fagen on keyboards and vocals.

After the release of their third LP in 1974, the other members left or were fired from the band, which evolved into a studio project headed by Becker and Fagen. Steely Dan's best-selling album was 1977's Aja, which was certified platinum. Three years later, they released Gaucho. Their next album was not until 1995, when they released the live album Alive in America. It was followed by the multiple Grammy Award winning Two Against Nature in 2000, and Steely Dan's most recent album Everything Must Go in 2003. A concert DVD, Two Against Nature, included material from much of the band's history.

After Becker's death in 2017, Fagen wished to retire the Steely Dan name out of respect for his bandmate and tour under a different name, but promoters advised him against it for commercial reasons.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> As of 2024, Fagen continues to tour as Steely Dan.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Solo career

After Steely Dan's breakup in 1981, Fagen released his debut solo album, The Nightfly, in October 1982. It was certified platinum for sales of over a million copies in the U.S. and reached 11 on the Billboard Top 200 albums list.<ref name="Awards">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The first single, "I.G.Y.", released in September 1982,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> peaked at number 26 on the Hot 100. The follow-up single, "New Frontier" (January 1983<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>), peaked at number 70 and was accompanied by a music video. The Nightfly was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In 2002, Rhino Records released a DVD-Audio version of The Nightfly in honor of the album's 20th anniversary. The bonus track, "True Companion", from the Nightfly Trilogy MVI Boxed Set is track seven on the Heavy Metal film soundtrack from 1981.

During the rest of the 1980s, Fagen contributed to soundtracks and wrote a column for Premiere magazine. In 1988, he released "Century's End" from the score to the Michael J. Fox film, Bright Lights, Big City. At the close of the decade, he returned to the stage with the New York Rock and Soul Revue.<ref name="AllMusic">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Becker and Fagen reunited in 1986 to work on the debut album by model and singer Rosie Vela.<ref name="Vela">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Becker produced Fagen's second album, Kamakiriad (1993), which was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and reached number 10 on the Top 200 albums chart.<ref name="Awards" /> Fagen co-produced and played keyboards on Walter Becker's solo album debut 11 Tracks of Whack (1994).

Fagen's third solo album, Morph the Cat, was released on March 14, 2006, and featured Wayne Krantz (guitar), Jon Herington (guitar), Keith Carlock (drums), Freddie Washington (bass), Ted Baker (piano), and Walt Weiskopf (sax). It reached 26 on Billboard Top 200 albums list.<ref name="Awards" /> Morph the Cat was named Album of the Year by Mix magazine. The 5.1 surround sound mix won the Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album.<ref>GRAMMY.com 49th Annual GRAMMY Awards Winners List Grammy.com, retrieved May 7, 2008</ref>

In 2007, Fagen's first three albums were released in a box set, Nightfly Trilogy, in the MVI (Music Video Interactive) format. Each album features DTS 5.1, Dolby 5.1 and PCM Stereo mix but no MLP encoded track, along with bonus audio and video content.

Fagen's fourth album, Sunken Condos, was released in 2012. It reached 12 on the Billboard Top 200 albums list.<ref name="Awards" /> In 2012 he also toured with the Dukes of September, featuring Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs. One of the concerts was recorded at Lincoln Center in New York City and broadcast on PBS Great Performances in 2014.<ref name="Dukes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2013, Fagen published an autobiography titled Eminent Hipsters.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A biography Nightfly: The Life of Steely Dan's Donald Fagen by Peter Jones was published in 2022.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Fagen frequently uses aliases. He wrote the liner notes to Can't Buy a Thrill under the name Tristan Fabriani, which he used on stage when he played keyboards for Jay and the Americans (Becker used Gus Mahler). On his solo albums, when he played or programmed a synthesizer part to replicate a real instrument (bass, vibraphone, horns) he credited one of his aliases: Illinois Elohainu, Phonus Quaver, or Harlan Post.<ref name=":2" />

Style and themes

Fagen has classified himself as both a self-taught pianist and a self-taught vocalist, although he did spend a few semesters studying formally at Berklee College of Music and took some vocal lessons in the mid-1970s as a precaution after feeling the straining effects of years of touring. Although he learned to become an entertainer, early on Fagen suffered from severe stage fright, which prompted Steely Dan producer Gary Katz to hire David Palmer to sing two songs on Steely Dan's debut album, Can't Buy a Thrill. This also led to the hiring of Royce Jones and Michael McDonald as singers in the band's tours in the early 1970s. Fagen plays the Fender Rhodes electric piano and Wurlitzer electric piano.

As a composer, he has never worked in any definable genre, drawing instead on elements of rock, r&b, blues, soul, jazz, pop, country, funk, film music, musical theatre, the Great American Songbook, and such classical composers as Bach and Stravinsky.<ref name=":2" /> One feature of both Steely Dan's music and Fagen's solo work is the distinctive sound of a chord known as the mü major, in which a major second is inserted into a triad.<ref name=":2" />

According to Robert Christgau, in terms of lyrics, Fagen is a "pathological ironist"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> who "doesn't much care about hippies" or the message of his generation's counterculture: "His '60s are the Kennedy years, when a smart, somewhat shallow suburban white kid could dream of Brubeck and bohemia and bomb-shelter wingdings and transoceanic rail links to exotic locales."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The songs of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill were an important influence on Fagen's irony.<ref name=":2" />

Personal life

Fagen's cousin Alan Rosenberg is an actor who was president of the Screen Actors Guild, while his cousin Mark Rosenberg was an activist in Students for a Democratic Society and a film producer.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} art/sci misspells Fagen's name but identification is clear.</ref>

In 1993 Fagen married songwriter Libby Titus. Although the two attended Bard College at around the same time, they did not become friends until 1987 when they were backstage at a Dr. John concert. On January 4, 2016, Titus sustained injuries after Fagen allegedly shoved her against a marble window frame at their Upper East Side apartment.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Titus co-wrote the song "Florida Room" on the 1993 album Kamakiriad. Fagen has performed with his stepdaughter Amy Helm, daughter of Titus and musician Levon Helm.<ref name="Dougherty">Template:Cite news</ref> Fagen has no children of his own. Titus died on October 13, 2024.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Awards

  • 1985: Honorary Doctor of Arts, Bard College<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Discography

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Studio albums

Year Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales thresholds)
US
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1982 The Nightfly 11 19 56 16 9 6 8 44
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1993 Kamakiriad
  • Released: May 25, 1993
  • Label: Reprise
10 80 24 13 30 10 9 3
  • RIAA: Gold<ref name="riaa" />
  • BPI: Gold<ref name="bpi certs" />
2006 Morph the Cat
  • Released: March 7, 2006
  • Label: Reprise
26 29 53 23 8 9 27 35
2012 Sunken Condos
  • Released: October 16, 2012
  • Label: Reprise<ref name="broadcast">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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12 36 29 13 5 10 53 23
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Live albums

Year Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales thresholds)
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2021 Donald Fagen's The Nightfly Live
  • Released: September 24, 2021
  • Label: UMe
53 55 49
with The New York Rock and Soul Revue
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(sales thresholds)
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1991 Live at the Beacon

Soundtrack albums

Year Album details
1971 You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose That Beat
(with Walter Becker)

Podcasts

Year Album details
2013 The Tom & Don Tapes, Vol. 1
(with Tom Schiller)
  • Released: April 1, 2013

Box sets

Year Album details
2007 Nightfly Trilogy
  • Released: November 20, 2007
  • Label: Reprise
2017 Cheap Xmas: Donald Fagen Complete
  • Released: October 20, 2017
  • Label: Reprise

Singles

Year Single Chart positions Album
US
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"Ruby Baby"
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Bright Lights, Big City: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1993 "Tomorrow's Girls" 46 Kamakiriad
"Trans-Island Skyway"
"Snowbound"
"—" denotes the single failed to chart
Year Song Album
1981 "True Companion" Heavy Metal: Music from the Motion Picture
1984 "Reflections"
(with Steve Khan)
That's the Way I Feel Now: A Tribute to Thelonious Monk
2017 "Tin Foil Hat"
(Todd Rundgren feat. Donald Fagen)
White Knight

Video albums

With the Dukes of September
Year Album details Peak chart positions
NLD
<ref name="Dutch Charts"/>
2014 The Dukes of September Live
  • Released: 20014
  • Label: 429 Records
4

Collaborations

The sources for this section include AllMusic<ref name="Credits">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Discogs.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • 1969: Terence Boylan, Alias Boona (Verve Forecast) – piano, organ (credited as Don Fagen)
  • 1970–1971: Jay and the Americans, touring band – keyboards
  • 1970: Jay and the Americans, Capture the Moment (United Artists), "Capture the Moment", "Tricia (Tell Your Daddy)", "She’ll Be Young Forever" and "Thoughts That I’ve Taken To Bed" co-arranger (with Walter Becker) strings and horns
  • 1970: Linda Hoover, I Mean To Shine (Omnivore Recordings),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> "I Mean To Shine", "Turn My Friend Away", "The Roaring of The Lamb", "Jones" - co-writer (with Walter Becker), "Roll Back The Meaning" - co-writer (with Walter Becker and Dorothy White), keyboards

Film and TV appearances

Writing

  • 1987: "Henry Mancini's Anomie Deluxe", Premiere Magazine.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Revised and reprinted in Eminent Hipsters.
  • 1988: "In The Throes of Lakmania", Premiere Magazine.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 1988: "Tell Blondie To Break Out The Ice", Premiere Magazine.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 1989: "A Talk with Ennio Morricone", Premiere Magazine.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 1989: "All That Jazz", Harper's Bazaar. Revised and reprinted in Eminent Hipsters.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 2007: "The Devil and Ike Turner. Parsing his hits", Slate.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 2013: Eminent Hipsters.<ref name="Eminent" />
  • 2016: "The Man Who Told A Christmas Story. What I learned from Jean Shepherd", Slate.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 2016: "Neutron Sunday. In 1956, Ed Sullivan showed America what nuclear holocaust looks like. We were never the same again", Slate.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • 2016: "Something of Value: How I fell in love with horror movies, and what their terrors taught me", Slate.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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References

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