Donald Fagen

Information about Donald Fagen

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.
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Fagen's 1982 solo album The Nightfly
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

1. ^ "Fagen finds his groove", The Star-Ledger, February 26, 2006. "Born in Passaic, Fagen graduated in South Brunswick High School's class of '65..."
2. ^ Berklee College of Music: Commencement 2001 - Photographs, retrieved 15 October 2007

External links

  •  • [ e] Steely Dan
Walter Becker • Donald Fagen
Jeff "Skunk" Baxter • Denny Dias • Jim Hodder • Michael McDonald • David Palmer
Discography
Studio albums: Can't Buy a Thrill • Countdown to Ecstasy • Pretzel Logic • Katy Lied • The Royal Scam • Aja • Gaucho • Two Against Nature • Everything Must Go
Live Albums: Alive in America • Plush TV Jazz-Rock Party
Compilations: Greatest Hits • Steely Dan • Gold • Gold (Expanded) • A Decade of Steely Dan • • Do It Again • Citizen Steely Dan • • •
Also featured on: Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz
January 10 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

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City of Passaic, New Jersey
Map of Passaic in Passaic County
Coordinates:
Country United States
State New Jersey
County Passaic
Settled 1679
Incorporated April 2, 1873
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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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musician is a person who plays or composes music. Musicians can be classified by their role in creating or performing music:
  • A musician or instrumentalist plays a musical instrument.

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A songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics to songs, the musical composition or melody to songs, or both. That is to say, a songwriter is a lyricist, a composer, or both.
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Steely Dan is a Grammy-Award winning American jazz rock band centered on core members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. The band's peak of popularity was in the 1970s, when it released six albums that blended together elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop.
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South Brunswick High School is a comprehensive community public high school in the Monmouth Junction section of South Brunswick, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, as part of the South Brunswick Public Schools. As of the 2005-06 school year, there were 2,554 students enrolled and 198.
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South Brunswick, New Jersey

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Motto:
Coordinates:
Country United States
State New Jersey
County Middlesex
Area
 - Township  41.
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Walter Becker (born Walter Carl Becker, 20 February 1950, in Queens, New York) is the guitarist (and sometimes bassist) half of the duo at the core of the jazz-rock band Steely Dan.
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2007 August >>
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August is the eighth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1940s  1950s  1960s  - 1970s -  1980s  1990s  2000s
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1978 1979 1980 - 1981 - 1982 1983 1984

Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI
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The Nightfly is the first solo album by Steely Dan member Donald Fagen, released in 1982 (see 1982 in music). It was one of the first fully digital recordings of popular music. Several of the songs are about events and settings from the 1950s. "I.G.Y.
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1950s  1960s  1970s  - 1980s -  1990s  2000s  2010s
1979 1980 1981 - 1982 - 1983 1984 1985

Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII
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A cult film is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but relatively small group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside of this small group; however there have been many exceptions.
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Heavy Metal is a 1981 Canadian animated film from executive producer Leonard Mogel, who also was the publisher of Heavy Metal magazine.
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All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

For the 1984 novel, see .
Bright Lights, Big City is a 1988 film staring Michael J. Fox, Kiefer Sutherland and Phoebe Cates.

Michael J.
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Premiere was an American and New York City-based film magazine published by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., published between the years 1987 and 2007. The original version of the magazine, Première , was started in France in 1976 and is still being published there.
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Enrico Nicola Mancini in the Little Italy neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the steel town of West Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. His parents emigrated from the Abruzzo region of Italy.
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Ennio Morricone, Grande Ufficiale OMRI[1] (born November 10, 1928; sometimes also credited as Dan Savio or Leo Nichols) is an Italian composer especially noted for his film scores.
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The New York Rock and Soul Revue was a musical project which evolved from a series of concerts produced by Libby Titus(future wife of Donald Fagen) that lasted from 1989 to 1993.
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Kamakiriad is the second solo album by Steely Dan singer Donald Fagen, released in 1993 (see 1993 in music). It was his first collaboration with Steely Dan partner Walter Becker, who produced the album, since 1980.
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11 Tracks of Whack is the first solo album by Steely Dan guitarist Walter Becker, released in 1994 (see 1994 in music). It was his second collaboration with Steely Dan partner Donald Fagen, who produced the album, since 1980, after Becker produced Fagen's Kamakiriad (1993).
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Two Against Nature
(2000) Everything Must Go
(2003)

Two Against Nature is an album by Steely Dan, released in 2000. (See 2000 in music).
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Everything Must Go
(2003)

For the album by Manic Street Preachers, see .


Everything Must Go is an album by Steely Dan. It was originally released June 10, 2003. (See 2003 in music).
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Alive in America
(1995) Plush TV Jazz-Rock Party
(2000)

Alive in America is a live album by rock group Steely Dan, released in 1995. (See 1995 in music).
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DVD

Media type: Optical disc
Capacity: 4.7 GB (single layer), 8.5 GB (dual layer)
Usage: Data storage, audio, video, games

Optical disc authoring
  • Optical disc
  • Optical disc image
  • Recorder hardware
  • Authoring software

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Morph the Cat
(2006)

Morph the Cat is a 2006 album by Donald Fagen, his first since 1993. The nine-track album was released in the US on March 14, 2006. It was very well received by fans as well as the press, scoring 83 points at metacritic.com.
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Wayne Krantz (born July 26 1956 in Corvallis, Oregon) is an innovative American jazz fusion guitarist who has played with names such as Steely Dan, Michael Brecker, Billy Cobham, and others, but currently has a solo act.
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