Donald Jay Fagen was born on January 10,1948 and is an American musician best known as the co-founder, lead singer, co-songwriter, and keyboardist of the band Steely Dan, formed in the early 1970s with musical partner Walter Becker.
21 Facts About Donald Fagen
2.
Donald Fagen began his solo career in 1982 with the album The Nightfly, which was nominated for seven Grammy Awards.
3.
In 2001, Donald Fagen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Steely Dan.
4.
Donald Fagen was born in Passaic, New Jersey, on January 10,1948, to Jewish parents, Joseph "Jerry" Donald Fagen, an accountant, and his wife, Elinor, a homemaker who had been a swing singer in upstate New York's Catskill Mountains from childhood through her teens.
5.
Donald Fagen's family moved to Fair Lawn, a small town near Passaic.
6.
Donald Fagen became interested in rock and rhythm and blues in the late 1950s.
7.
Donald Fagen regularly took the bus to Manhattan to see performances by jazz musicians Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, and Miles Davis.
8.
Donald Fagen has expressed admiration for the Boswell Sisters, Henry Mancini, and Ray Charles.
9.
Becker and Donald Fagen attracted a revolving assortment of musicians including future actor Chevy Chase, to form the bands Leather Canary, the Don Donald Fagen Jazz Trio, and the Bad Rock Band.
10.
Donald Fagen described his college bands as sounding like "the Kingsmen performing Frank Zappa material".
11.
Becker and Donald 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.
12.
Becker and Donald Fagen formed the core of the band and wrote all the songs, with Becker on bass, and later lead guitar, and Donald Fagen on keyboards and vocals.
13.
Becker and Donald Fagen reunited in 1986 to work on the debut album by model and singer Rosie Vela.
14.
Donald Fagen co-produced and played keyboards on Walter Becker's solo album debut 11 Tracks of Whack.
15.
In 2012, Fagen toured with the Dukes of September, featuring Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs.
16.
Donald Fagen 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.
17.
Donald 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.
18.
Donald Fagen plays the Fender Rhodes electric piano and Wurlitzer electric piano.
19.
Donald 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.
20.
On January 4,2016, Titus sustained injuries after Donald Fagen allegedly shoved her against a marble window frame at their Upper East Side apartment.
21.
Donald Fagen has performed with his stepdaughter Amy Helm, daughter of Titus and musician Levon Helm.