Donald Jay Fagen (born January 10, 1948) is an American musician best known as the co-founder, lead singer, co-songwriter, and keyboardist of the band

Steely Dan Steely Dan is an American rock band founded in 1971 in New York by Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals). Initially the band had a stable lineup, but in 1974, Becker and Fagen retired from live ...

, formed in the early 1970s with musical partner

Walter Becker Walter Carl Becker (February 20, 1950 – September 3, 2017) was an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was the co-founder, guitarist, bassist, and co-songwriter of the jazz rock band Steely Dan.Russonello, Giovanni,Listen t ...

. In addition to his work with Steely Dan, Fagen has released four solo albums. He began his solo career in 1982 with the album ''

The Nightfly ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'', which was nominated for seven

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

. In 2001, Fagen was inducted into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...

as a member of Steely Dan. Following Becker's death in 2017, Fagen has continued to tour as the only original member of Steely Dan.

Early life

Fagen was born in

Passaic, New Jersey Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 70,537, ranking as the 16th largest municipality in New Jersey and an increase of 656 from the 69,78 ...

, on January 10, 1948, to

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

parents, Joseph "Jerry" Fagen, an

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...

, and his wife, Elinor, a homemaker who had been a swing singer in upstate New York's

Catskill Mountains The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...

from childhood through her teens.Sweet, ''Steely Dan: Reelin' in the Years'' 7. His family moved to the suburb of Fair Lawn around 1958 and soon after to a house on Bedford Road in the Kendall Park section of South Brunswick, New Jersey. The transition upset him. He detested living in the suburbs. He later recalled that it "was like a prison. I think I lost faith in y 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, inspired his later album ''

''. Fagen became interested in rock and rhythm and blues ( R&B) in the late 1950s. The first record he bought was "

Reelin' and Rockin' "Reelin' and Rockin'" is a song written and recorded by Chuck Berry. It was originally recorded in 1957 and released as the B-side of "Sweet Little Sixteen". Recording The song was recorded on December 29-30, 1957 in Chicago, Illinois. * Chuck Be ...

" by

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...

. At age eleven, a cousin recommended jazz music and Fagen went to the

Newport Jazz Festival The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hire ...

, becoming what he called a "jazz snob": "I lost interest in rock 'n' roll and started developing an anti-social personality."Sweet, ''Steely Dan: Reelin' in the Years'' 8. In the early 1960s, beginning at age twelve, he often went to the

Village Vanguard The Village Vanguard is a jazz club at Seventh Avenue South in Greenwich Village, New York City. The club was opened on February 22, 1935, by Max Gordon. Originally, the club presented folk music and beat poetry, but it became primarily a jazz ...

, where he was particularly impressed by

Earl Hines Earl Kenneth Hines, also known as Earl "Fatha" Hines (December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983), was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. He was one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano and, according to one source, " ...

Willie "The Lion" Smith William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholf Smith (November 23, 1893 – April 18, 1973), nicknamed "The Lion", was an American jazz and stride pianist. Early life William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholf, known as Willie, was born in 1893 in Goshen, ...

, and

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block ch ...

. He regularly took the bus to Manhattan to see performances by jazz musicians

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians and ...

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, he has recorded over sixty albums as a ...

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", "B ...

, and

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

. He learned to play the piano, and he played baritone horn in the high school marching band. He developed a lifelong fondness for table tennis. In his late teens he was drawn to soul music, funk, Motown, and

Sly and the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band from San Francisco. Active from 1966 to 1983, it was pivotal in the development of funk, soul, rock, and psychedelic music. Its core line-up was led by singer-songwriter, record producer, and multi-i ...

. He has also expressed admiration for

the Boswell Sisters The Boswell Sisters were an American close harmony singing trio of the jazz and swing eras, consisting of three sisters: Martha Boswell (June 9, 1905 – July 2, 1958), Connie Boswell (later spelled "Connee", December 3, 1907 – October 11, ...

Henry Mancini Henry Mancini ( ; born Enrico Nicola Mancini, ; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flautist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Award ...

, and

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

. After graduating from South Brunswick High School in 1965, inspired by

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian a ...

, and

Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. The author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, an ...

, he enrolled at

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic ...

to study English literature, where he met

in a coffee house in 1967. Becker and Fagen attracted a revolving assortment of musicians including future actor

Chevy Chase Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He became a key cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'', where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment became a staple of the ...

, to form the bands Leather Canary, the Don Fagen Jazz Trio, and the Bad Rock Band.Fruchter, Rena. (2007). ''I'm Chevy Chase...and You're Not''. Virgin Books. Fagen described his college bands as sounding like "

the Kingsmen The Kingsmen are a 1960s rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States. They are best known for their 1963 recording of R&B singer Richard Berry's "Louie Louie", which held the No. 2 spot on the ''Billboard'' charts for six weeks and ha ...

performing

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

material". 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 Jay and the Americans are an American rock group who formed in the late 1950s. Their initial line-up consisted of John "Jay" Traynor, Howard Kane (born Howard Kirschenbaum), Kenny Vance (born Kenneth Rosenberg) and Sandy Deanne (born Sandy Ya ...

, 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.

Career

Steely Dan

Becker and Fagen began to form Steely Dan in the summer of 1970, responding to a ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...

'' ad for "a bassist and keyboard player with jazz chops" placed by guitarist

Denny Dias Dennis Dias (born December 12, 1946) is an American guitarist, best known for being a founding member of Steely Dan. Career Dias was working with his own band out of his basement in Hicksville, New York, when he placed an ad in ''The Village Vo ...

. Dias was immediately impressed by the pair's abilities, and especially that they already had a whole stack of original material. (Fans of

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generatio ...

literature, Fagen and Becker named the band after a steam-powered vibrator mentioned in the

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

novel ''

Naked Lunch ''Naked Lunch'' (sometimes ''The Naked Lunch'') is a 1959 novel by American writer William S. Burroughs. The book is structured as a series of loosely connected vignettes, intended by Burroughs to be read in any order. The reader follows the na ...

''.) 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 Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. Three years later, they released ''

Gaucho A gaucho () or gaúcho () is a skilled horseman, reputed to be brave and unruly. The figure of the gaucho is a folk symbol of Argentina, Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, and the south of Chilean Patagonia. Gauchos became greatly admired and ...

''. Their next album wasn't until 1995, when they released the live album ''

Alive in America ''Alive in America'' is a live album by the American rock group Steely Dan, released in 1995. It is Steely Dan's first live album. The album comprises recordings from their 1993 and 1994 tours, which were the first live Steely Dan performances ...

''. It was followed by the multiple

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

winning ''

Two Against Nature ''Two Against Nature'' is the eighth studio album by American rock band Steely Dan. Their first studio album in 20 years, it was recorded from 1997 to 1999 and released on February 29, 2000, by Giant Records. A critical success, ''Two Against Na ...

'' 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. As of 2022, Fagen continues to tour as Steely Dan.

Solo career

After Steely Dan's breakup in 1981, Fagen released his debut solo album, ''

'', 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. The first single, " I.G.Y.", released in September 1982, peaked at number 26 on the Hot 100. The follow-up single, "

New Frontier The term ''New Frontier'' was used by Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy in his acceptance speech in the 1960 United States presidential election to the Democratic National Convention at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as the D ...

" (January 1983), peaked at number 70 and was accompanied by a music video. ''The Nightfly'' was nominated for the

Grammy Award for Album of the Year The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regar ...

. In 2002,

Rhino Records A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species ...

released a

DVD-Audio DVD-Audio (commonly abbreviated as DVD-A) is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio uses most of the storage on the disc for high-quality audio and is not intended to be a video delivery format. The sta ...

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. Fagen also contributed "Century's End" to the soundtrack for the 1988

Michael J. Fox Michael Andrew Fox (born June 9, 1961), known professionally as Michael J. Fox, is a Canadian-American retired actor. Beginning his career in the 1970s, he rose to prominence portraying Alex P. Keaton on the NBC sitcom ''Family Ties'' (1 ...

film, '' Bright Lights, Big City''. During the rest of the 1980s, Fagen contributed to soundtracks and wrote a column for ''Premiere'' magazine. In the early 1990s, he toured with

the New York Rock and Soul Revue The New York Rock and Soul Revue was a musical project which evolved from a series of concerts and musical shows produced by Libby Titus (future wife of Donald Fagen) that lasted from 1989 to 1992. The project was led by Donald Fagen (soloist and c ...

. Becker and Fagen reunited in 1986 to work on the debut album by model and singer

Rosie Vela Roseanne Vela (born December 18, 1952) is an American model, singer and songwriter. Early life, education and modeling career Roseanne Vela was born on December 18, 1952 in Galveston, Texas. Her family later moved to Arkansas, where she attende ...

. Fagen co-produced and played keyboards on Walter Becker's solo album debut ''

11 Tracks of Whack ''11 Tracks of Whack'' is the first solo album by Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker, released in 1994. It was his third collaboration since 1980 with Steely Dan partner Donald Fagen, who produced the album, after Becker produced Fagen's ''Kama ...

'' (1994). Becker produced Fagen's second album, ''

Kamakiriad ''Kamakiriad'' is the second solo album by Steely Dan artist Donald Fagen, released in 1993. It was his first collaboration with Steely Dan partner Walter Becker since 1986, on Rosie Vela's album '' Zazu''. Becker played guitar and bass and pr ...

'' (1993), which was nominated for the

and reached number 10 on the Top 200 albums chart. Fagen's third solo album, ''

Morph the Cat ''Morph the Cat'' is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Donald Fagen. Released on March 7, 2006, to generally positive reviews from critics, ''Morph the Cat'' was described by Fagen as his "death album" in an interview with Fred ...

'', was released on March 14, 2006, and featured

Wayne Krantz Wayne Krantz is an American guitarist and composer. He has performed and recorded with Steely Dan, Michael Brecker, Donald Fagen, Billy Cobham, Chris Potter, David Binney, and Carla Bley. Since the early 1990s, Krantz has focused primarily ...

(guitar),

Jon Herington Jon Herington (born Jonathan Reuel Herington on April 14, 1954) is an American guitarist, singer-songwriter, record producer, and session musician. Career Herington was born in Paterson, New Jersey, and grew up in West Long Branch, New Jerse ...

(guitar),

Keith Carlock Keith Carlock (born November 29, 1971) is an American musician who has played drums with Toto, Wayne Krantz, Steely Dan, James Taylor, Donald Fagen, Walter Becker, Tal Wilkenfeld, John Mayer, Sting, and Chris Botti. In ''Modern Drummer's'' 2009 ...

(drums), Freddie Washington (bass), Ted Baker (piano), and

Walt Weiskopf Walt Weiskopf (born July 30, 1959 in Augusta, Georgia) is an American jazz saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, author and educator. He has released sixteen albums as a leader, and performed on countless other albums as a sideman. He has ...

(sax). It reached 26 on ''Billboard'' Top 200 albums list. ''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 The Grammy Award for Best Immersive Audio Album (until 2018: ''Best Surround Sound Album'') was first awarded in 2005, as the first category in a new "Surround Sound" field. This field currently holds the Best Immersive Audio Album award as its s ...

. Fagen's first three albums were released in a box set, ''The 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. In 2012, Fagen toured with

the Dukes of September The Dukes of September was an American Supergroup (music), supergroup, formed in 2010 featuring Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald (singer), Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs. The project was a resurrection of the previous New York Rock and Soul Revue w ...

, featuring Michael McDonald and

Boz Scaggs William Royce "Boz" Scaggs (born June 8, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. An early bandmate of Steve Miller in The Ardells and the Steve Miller Band, he began his solo career in 1969, though he lacked a major hit until h ...

. One of the concerts was recorded at Lincoln Center in New York City and broadcast on PBS Great Performances in 2014. In 2013, Fagen published an autobiography titled ''Eminent Hipsters''. A biography ''Nightfly: The Life of Steely Dan's Donald Fagen'' by Peter Jones was published in 2022. Fagen frequently uses aliases. He wrote the liner notes to ''

Can't Buy a Thrill ''Can't Buy a Thrill'' is the debut studio album by American rock band Steely Dan, released in November 1972 by ABC Records. The album was written by band members Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, recorded in August 1972 at the Village Recorder ...

'' 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.

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 Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

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 Gary Katz is an American record producer, best known for his work on albums by Steely Dan. Katz has also produced numerous other recording artists and assisted in the discovery and signing of a number of subsequently successful acts. Career ...

to hire David Palmer to sing two songs on Steely Dan's debut album, ''

''. This also led to the hiring of

Royce Jones Royce Jones (born December 15, 1954) is an American musician best known for his work as a touring vocalist with the bands Steely Dan (in 1973 and 1974) and Ambrosia (joined 1978).

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 The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is concept ...

. According to

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

, in terms of lyrics, Fagen is a "pathological ironist" who "doesn't much care about

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

s" or the message of his generation's

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...

: "His '60s are the Kennedy years, when a smart, somewhat shallow suburban white kid could dream of Brubeck and

bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

and bomb-shelter wingdings and transoceanic rail links to exotic locales."

Personal life

Fagen's cousin

Alan Rosenberg Alan Rosenberg (born October 4, 1950) is an American actor. Rosenberg is perhaps best known for his character Eli Levinson which appeared in both the series '' Civil Wars'' and the popular '' L.A. Law''. From 2005 to 2009, he was president of the ...

is an actor who was president of the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

, while his cousin Mark Rosenberg was an activist in

Students for a Democratic Society Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s, and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships ...

and a film producer. 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 Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer and songwriter. His music encompassed New Orleans blues, jazz, funk, and R&B. Active as a session musician from ...

concert. On January 4, 2016, Titus sustained injuries after Fagen allegedly shoved her against a marble window frame at their

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

apartment. Titus informed the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' that she was divorcing her husband. The two have since reconciled. Titus co-wrote the song "Florida Room" on the 1993 album ''

''. Fagen has performed with his stepdaughter

Amy Helm Amy Helm (born December 3, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She is the daughter of drummer Levon Helm and singer Libby Titus. She is a past member of the Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble Band and Ollabelle, as well as her own t ...

, daughter of Titus and musician

Levon Helm Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. H ...

. Fagen has no children of his own.

Awards

*1985: Honorary Doctor of Arts,

*2001: Honorary Doctor of Music,

*2001: Steely Dan inducted into the

*2010: Jazz Wall of Fame,

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

Discography

Studio albums

Collaborations

* 1971:

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...

, '' Barbra Joan Streisand'' – Hammond organ * 1973: Tim Moore, ''Tim Moore'' – vocals ("

A Fool Like You "A Fool Like You" is a 1973 song by Tim Moore from his eponymous debut album. Donald Fagen is featured on backing vocals. The song reached number 93 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 during the spring of that year. It was his first of four charting ...

") * 1975:

Poco Poco was an American country rock band originally formed in 1968 after the demise of Buffalo Springfield. Guitarists Richie Furay and Jim Messina, former members of Buffalo Springfield, were joined by multi-instrumentalist Rusty Young, bassi ...

, ''Head over Heels'' – synthesizer * 1977: Poco, ''

Indian Summer An Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Several sources describe a true Indian summer as not occurring until after the first frost, or more s ...

'' – synthesizer *1978:

Marc Jordan Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system o ...

, Mannequin - keyboards * 1978:

Pete Christlieb Pete Christlieb (born February 16, 1945) is an American jazz bebop, West Coast jazz and hard bop tenor saxophonist. Biography Christlieb was born in Los Angeles, California, United States, and is the son of bassoonist Don Christlieb. Christlieb ...

and

Warne Marsh Warne Marion Marsh (October 26, 1927 – December 18, 1987) was an American tenor saxophonist. Born in Los Angeles, his playing first came to prominence in the 1950s as a protégé of pianist Lennie Tristano and earned attention in the 1970s as ...

, ''Apogee'' – producer * 1981:

Rickie Lee Jones Rickie Lee Jones (born November 8, 1954) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and author. Over the course of a career that spans five decades, she has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, pop, soul, and jazz. A two ...

, ''

Pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

'' – synthesizer * 1982: Eye to Eye, ''Eye to Eye'' – producer, synthesizer * 1983;

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

, ''

Ross Ross or ROSS may refer to: People * Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan * Ross (name), including a list of people with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning * Earl of Ross, a peerage of Scotland Places * RoSS, the Republic of Sou ...

'', ''Love Will Make It Right'' – writer, synthesizer * 1984: Various artists, ''That's the Way I Feel Now: A Tribute to Thelonious Monk'' – "Reflections" with

Steve Khan Steve Khan (born Steven Harris Cahn; April 28, 1947) is an American jazz guitarist. Career Steven Harris Cahn was born in Los Angeles. His father, lyricist Sammy Cahn, "loved to hear any and all versions of his songs". He took piano lessons as a ...

* 1986:

, '' Zazu'' – synthesizer * 1988: Various artists, ''

The Gospel at Colonus ''The Gospel at Colonus'' is an African-American musical version of Sophocles's tragedy, ''Oedipus at Colonus. '' The show was created in 1983 by the experimental-theatre director Lee Breuer, one of the founders of the seminal American avant-garde ...

'' soundtrack – producer * 1990:

, '' Dead City Radio'' – musical accompaniment on "A New Standard by Which to Measure Infamy" * 1991:

The New York Rock and Soul Revue The New York Rock and Soul Revue was a musical project which evolved from a series of concerts and musical shows produced by Libby Titus (future wife of Donald Fagen) that lasted from 1989 to 1992. The project was led by Donald Fagen (soloist and c ...

, '' The New York Rock and Soul Revue: Live at the Beacon'' – producer, vocals, piano, Fender Rhodes piano, melodica * 1992:

Jennifer Warnes Jennifer Jean Warnes (born March 3, 1947) is an American singer and songwriter. She has performed as a vocalist on a number of film soundtracks. She has won two Grammy Awards, in 1983 for the Joe Cocker duet "Up Where We Belong" and in 1987 for ...

The Hunter (Jennifer Warnes album) ''The Hunter'' is the seventh studio album by Jennifer Warnes, released in 1992. ''The Hunter'' was released five years after her breakthrough album '' Famous Blue Raincoat''. Classified as adult contemporary, the album is jazz/R&B infused. The ...

, Big Noise, New York - writer, backing vocals * 1994:

, ''

'' – producer, arranger, keyboards * 1997:

, '' My Time: A Boz Scaggs Anthology'', "Drowning in the Sea of Love" – producer, vocals, piano, electric piano ender Rhodes melodica * 2001:

Phoebe Snow Phoebe Snow (born Phoebe Ann Laub; July 17, 1950 – April 26, 2011) was an American roots music singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for her hit 1974 and 1975 songs " San Francisco Bay Blues", " Poetry Man", "Harpo's Blues", and her credited ...

, ''The Very Best of Phoebe Snow'' – producer * 2008: Martha Wainwright, '' I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too'' – synthesizer * 2014: Michael McDonald &

, " The Dukes of September Live (New York 2012)" - keyboards, vocals * 2017:

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...

, "Tin Foil Hat" from the album '' White Knight'' – vocals

References

External links

Donald Fagen
interview at ''

Wax Poetics ''Wax Poetics'' is a quarterly American music magazine dedicated to vintage and contemporary jazz, funk, soul, Latin, hip-hop, reggae, blues, and R&B in the crate-digger tradition; the name of the magazine is itself an allusion to vinyl rec ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Fagen, Donald 1948 births Living people American rock singers American rock musicians American rock pianists American male pianists American organists 20th-century American keyboardists Songwriters from New Jersey Bard College alumni Jazz-rock pianists Jewish American musicians Grammy Award winners Jewish American songwriters People from Fair Lawn, New Jersey Musicians from Passaic, New Jersey People from South Brunswick, New Jersey Melodica players Pupils of Jacob Druckman Jewish rock musicians South Brunswick High School (New Jersey) alumni American baritones 20th-century American pianists 20th-century organists 21st-century American keyboardists 21st-century American pianists 21st-century organists 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century American Jews American male songwriters The Dukes of September members The New York Rock and Soul Revue members