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
Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, amplifiers, and key ...
band
Steely Dan.
[Russonello, Giovanni,]
Listen to 13 Essential Walter Becker Songs
New York Times
2017-09-04. Accessed 2019-05-29.
Becker met future songwriting partner
Donald Fagen
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, formed in the early 1970s with musical partner Walter Becker. In addition to his ...
while they were students at
Bard College
Bard College is a private 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 District—a National Historic Landmark.
Founded in 18 ...
. After a brief period of activity in New York City, the two moved to Los Angeles in 1971 and formed the nucleus of Steely Dan, which enjoyed a critically and commercially successful ten-year career. Following the group's dissolution, Becker moved to Hawaii and reduced his musical activity, working primarily as a record producer. In 1985, he briefly became a member of the English band
China Crisis, producing and playing synthesizer on their album ''
Flaunt the Imperfection''.
Becker and Fagen reformed Steely Dan in 1993 and remained active, recording ''
Two Against Nature'' (2000), which won four
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 pre ...
s. Becker released two solo albums, ''
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) and ''
Circus Money'' (2008). Following a brief battle with
esophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include difficulty in swallowing and weight loss. Other symptoms may include pain when swallowing, a hoarse vo ...
, he died on September 3, 2017.
Early life and career (1950–1971)
Becker was born in
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
. After Becker's parents separated when he was a boy, his British mother returned to England. Becker was made to believe that his mother was deceased by his father and grandmother; however, sometime between his childhood and late adolescence, he discovered that she was living, and he maintained a rocky relationship with her from that point forward. He was raised in Queens and Scarsdale, New York by his father and his grandmother. His father, Carl Becker, sold paper-cutting machinery in Manhattan.
He graduated from Manhattan's
Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School (pronounced ), commonly referred to among its students as Stuy (pronounced ), is a State school, public university-preparatory school, college-preparatory, Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school ...
.
After starting out on saxophone, he switched to guitar and received instruction in
blues technique from neighbor
Randy California
Randy Craig Wolfe (February 20, 1951 – January 2, 1997), known as Randy California, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, and one of the original members of the rock group Spirit, formed in 1967.
Life and career
California was b ...
, who later formed the band
Spirit.
[
Donald Fagen overheard Becker playing guitar at a campus café when they were both students at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. In an interview many years later, Fagen said, "I hear this guy practicing, and it sounded very professional and contemporary. It sounded like, you know, like a black person, really."] They formed the band Leather Canary, which included fellow student 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 ...
on drums. At the time, Chase called the group "a bad jazz band."
Becker left the school in 1969 before completing his degree and moved with Fagen to Brooklyn, where the two began to build a career as a songwriting duo. They were members of the touring band for 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 Y ...
but used pseudonyms. They also composed music for the soundtrack to '''', a film starring Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as on ...
that was released in 1971.
With Steely Dan (1971–1981)
In 1971, Becker and Fagen moved to Los Angeles and were hired by 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
...
as staff songwriters at ABC Records
ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels bef ...
, later forming Steely Dan with guitarists Denny Dias and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter
Jeffrey Allen "Skunk" Baxter (born December 13, 1948) is an American guitarist, known for his stints in the rock bands Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers during the 1970s and Spirit in the 1980s. More recently, he has worked as a defense con ...
, drummer Jim Hodder, and vocalist David Palmer. Fagen played keyboards and sang, while Becker played bass guitar. Steely Dan spent the next three years touring and recording before swearing off touring in 1974, confining themselves to the studio with personnel that changed for every album. In addition to co-writing all of the band's material, Becker played guitar and bass guitar and sang background vocals.
''Pretzel Logic
''Pretzel Logic'' is the third studio album by American rock band Steely Dan, released on February 20, 1974, by ABC Records. It was written by principal band members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, and recorded at The Village Recorder in West ...
'' (1974) was the first Steely Dan album to feature Becker on guitar. "Once I met (session musician) Chuck Rainey
Charles Walter Rainey III (born June 17, 1940) is an American bass guitarist who has performed and recorded with many well-known acts, including Aretha Franklin, Steely Dan, and Quincy Jones. Rainey is credited for playing bass on more than 1,0 ...
", he explained, "I felt there really was no need for me to be bringing my bass guitar to the studio anymore".
Despite the success of ''Aja
Aja or AJA may refer to:
Acronyms
*AJ Auxerre, a French football club
*Ajaccio Napoleon Bonaparte Airport's IATA airport code
*Al Jazeera America, an American news channel
*American Jewish Archives
*''American Journal of Archaeology''
*, a Germa ...
'' in 1977, Becker suffered from setbacks during this period, including an addiction to narcotics. After the duo returned to New York in 1978, Becker's girlfriend Karen Roberta Stanley, who was an employee of ABC Dunhill Records and personal manager for the band, died of a drug overdose in his apartment on January 30, 1980, resulting in a wrongful death lawsuit against him. Soon after, he was hit by a cab in Manhattan while crossing the street and was forced to walk with crutches while recovering. His exhaustion was made worse by commercial pressure and the complicated recording of the album ''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 ...
'' (1980). Becker and Fagen suspended their partnership in June 1981.
Work in record production (1981–1993)
Following Steely Dan's breakup, Becker and his family moved to Maui. Becker ceased using drugs, stopped smoking and drinking, and became an "avocado rancher and self-styled critic of the contemporary scene."
He produced albums for the new wave bands Fra Lippo Lippi
Filippo Lippi ( – 8 October 1469), also known as Lippo Lippi, was an Italian painter of the Quattrocento (15th century) and a Carmelite Priest.
Biography
Lippi was born in Florence in 1406 to Tommaso, a butcher, and his wife. He was orph ...
and China Crisis, and is credited on the latter's 1985 album '' Flaunt the Imperfection'' as a member of the band. He also produced albums for Michael Franks and John Beasley. Becker produced Rickie Lee Jones's album '' Flying Cowboys'' and played bass on the main title track co-written by Pascal Nabet Meyer, which was certified Gold
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 ...
by the RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
in 1997. Becker and Fagen reunited in 1986 to collaborate on '' Zazu'', the debut album by Rosie Vela. In 1991, Becker appeared in Fagen's 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 ...
.
Steely Dan reformation (1993–2017)
In 1993, Becker produced Fagen's album '' Kamakiriad''. A year later, Fagen co-produced Becker's debut album ''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 ...
''.
Also in 1993, Steely Dan began touring for the first time in nineteen years, resulting in the 1995 release of their first live album, '' Alive in America'', a compilation of live recordings from different American tour dates in 1993 and 1994.
In 2000 they released '' Two Against Nature'', their first album of new material in twenty years. The album won four Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to:
Awards
* ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia
* Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK
* Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US
* Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA
* Lati ...
. In 2001 they were 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 and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music an ...
and received honorary doctorates from the 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 cou ...
, which they accepted in person. In 2003, they released the album '' Everything Must Go'' with Becker singing lead vocal on "Slang of Ages". They followed the album with a tour.
In 2005, Becker co-produced and played bass guitar on the album ''All One'' by Krishna Das and played guitar on the album ''Tough on Crime'' by Rebecca Pidgeon. He co-wrote " I'm All Right" from the album ''Half the Perfect World
''Half the Perfect World'' is the fourth studio album by American jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux. It was released on September 12, 2006. It peaked at No. 33 on the ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart and had sold 218,000 copies in the United States b ...
'' (2006) by Madeleine Peyroux
Madeleine Peyroux (born April 18, 1974) is an American jazz singer and songwriter who began her career as a teenager on the streets of Paris. She sang vintage jazz and blues songs before finding mainstream success in 2004 when her album '' Care ...
, and "You Can't Do Me
"You Can't Do Me" was the first single of Madeleine Peyroux
Madeleine Peyroux (born April 18, 1974) is an American jazz singer and songwriter who began her career as a teenager on the streets of Paris. She sang vintage jazz and blues songs be ...
" and the title track from her album '' Bare Bones'' (2009). He was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2008.
His second solo album, '' Circus Money'', was released on June 10, 2008, fourteen years after its predecessor. The songs were inspired by reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the ...
and other styles of Jamaican music.
Instruments and equipment
Becker was a collector of musical equipment, accumulating hundreds of guitars and amplifiers
An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost the ...
, as well as numerous other instruments, pedals, pre-wired pedalboards, " speakers, recording gear, and ephemera." In concert, he often played custom-built guitars modeled after Stratocasters.
After his death, his gear was auctioned off by Julien's for in total. Becker's guitar and amp collection was the largest ever sold by Julien's, whose owner said "what made hecollection unique" was that Becker "literally played all of them."
In a column for ''Guitar Player
''Guitar Player'' is an American popular magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political ...
'' magazine published in 1994, Becker coined the acronym
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in '' NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, a ...
G.A.S. ("Guitar Acquisition Syndrome"), denoting the uncontrolled accumulation of music gear.[Walter Becker: "The Dreaded G.A.S.", in: ''Guitar Player'', April 1994, p. 15.] The term was later adapted as Gear Acquisition Syndrome
Shopping addiction is characterized by an eagerness to purchase unnecessary or superfluous things and a lack of impulse control when it comes to shopping. It is a concept similar to compulsive buying disorder (''oniomania''), but usually has a mo ...
in online forums and music magazines.
Personal life
In 1984 Becker married Elinor Roberta Meadows, a yoga
Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-conscio ...
teacher, and the couple had two children, including adopted daughter Sayan. They divorced in 1997. Becker wrote the song "Little Kawai" for his son, and it became the final song on the album ''11 Tracks of Whack''.
Becker was also married to Delia Cioffi and Juanna Fatouros.
Illness and death
In the spring of 2017, Becker was diagnosed with "an aggressive form of esophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include difficulty in swallowing and weight loss. Other symptoms may include pain when swallowing, a hoarse vo ...
" during an annual medical checkup. Despite undergoing vigorous treatment, the cancer rapidly worsened to the point that he was completely absent from all of Steely Dan's concerts in the months that followed. He died from the disease on September 3, 2017, at the age of 67, at his home in Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...
, New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
. At the time of his death, no cause or other details were announced, but a statement released in November by Becker's widow, Delia Becker, detailed his struggle with the disease.
Musicians such as Julian Lennon
Julian Charles John Lennon (born John Charles Julian Lennon; 8 April 1963) is an English musician. He is the son of Beatles member John Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia, and he is named after his paternal grandmother, Julia Lennon. Julian ...
, Steve Lukather
Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a stead ...
, and John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats are an American band formed in Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, North Carolina. For many years, the sole member of the Mountain Goats was Darnielle, despite the ...
made public statements mourning Becker's death. Rickie Lee Jones, whose album '' Flying Cowboys'' was produced by Becker, recalled her long friendship with him in an editorial she wrote for ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...
''.
In a statement released to the media the day of Becker's death, Fagen recalled his long-time friend and musical partner as "smart as a whip, an excellent guitarist and a great songwriter," and closed by stating that he intended to "keep the music we created together alive as long as I can with the Steely Dan band."
Discography
Studio albums
* ''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)
* '' Circus Money'' (2008)
As sideman or producer
* 1969 ''Alias Boona'', Terence Boylan
* 1974 ''First Grade'', Thomas Jefferson Kaye
Thomas Jefferson Kontos (1940 – September 16, 1994), better known as Thomas Jefferson Kaye, was an American record producer, singer-songwriter and musician. He collaborated with The Shirelles, Loudon Wainwright III, and Gene Clark, and also r ...
* 1985 '' Flaunt the Imperfection'', China Crisis
* 1986 '' Zazu'', Rosie Vela
* 1987 '' Light and Shade'', Fra Lippo Lippi
Filippo Lippi ( – 8 October 1469), also known as Lippo Lippi, was an Italian painter of the Quattrocento (15th century) and a Carmelite Priest.
Biography
Lippi was born in Florence in 1406 to Tommaso, a butcher, and his wife. He was orph ...
* 1989 '' Diary of a Hollow Horse'', China Crisis
* 1989 '' Blue Pacific'', Michael Franks
* 1989 '' Flying Cowboys'', Rickie Lee Jones
* 1993 '' Kamakiriad'', Donald Fagen
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, formed in the early 1970s with musical partner Walter Becker. In addition to his ...
* 1994 ''Mose the Fireman'', John Beasley
* 2005 ''All One'', Krishna Das
* 2005 ''Tough on Crime'', Rebecca Pidgeon
* 2009 ''Baritonality'', Roger Rosenberg
* 2011 ''Fra Lippo Lippi'', Fra Lippo Lippi
References
External links
*
* Companion media website - www.walterbeckermedia.com
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Walter
1950 births
2017 deaths
Stuyvesant High School alumni
Bard College alumni
Record producers from New York (state)
American rock guitarists
American male guitarists
American rock bass guitarists
American male bass guitarists
American male songwriters
American people of British descent
Grammy Award winners
People from Forest Hills, Queens
Deaths from esophageal cancer
Deaths from cancer in New York (state)
Jazz-rock guitarists
20th-century American guitarists
21st-century American guitarists
20th-century American male musicians
21st-century American male musicians