Steely Dan: The Beginning
As fate would have it, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker met in 1967 in college in New York. Soon after the duo formed a couple of local bands called The Bad Rock Group and The Iron Canary, the former of which housed Chevy Chase on the drums. After graduation, Fagen and Becker moved to Brooklyn to try their luck in the big city. Kenny Vance, a member of Jay and the Americans, took an interest in their work which later found itself on a low budget Richard Pryor film. During the period between 1968-71, Fagen and Becker composed a collection of songs, most of which were not released formally.
Steely Dan: On the Right Foot
In 1971, Barbara Streisand recorded the Steely Dan song “I Mean To Shine” for her album Barbara Joan Streisand. But it was when their friend Gary Katz moved to LA to become a staff producer for ABC records that the duo was signed on as songwriters. By suggestion of ABC, Fagen and Becker reorganized the structure of their band to include Denny Dias and Jeff “Skunk” Baxter on guitars, Jim Hodder on Bass, and David Palmer as lead vocalist. In 1972, ABC released two promotional tracks: “Dallas” and “Sail the Waterway”.
Steely Dan: Climbing the Ladder
Steely Dan’s debut album Can’t Buy a Thrill featured the group’s first hit songs “Do It Again” which reached No. 6 on the Billboard singles chart, “Reelin’ in the Years” which appeared at No. 11 on the Billboard charts, and the song “Dirty Work”. With room for only one lead vocalist, David Palmer left Steely Dan and ventured out solo to work on his own projects. Steely Dan’s next album Countdown to Ecstasy featured a more blues-oriented sound than its predecessor and featured the songs “Showbiz Kids” and “My Old School”.
Steely Dan: Pretzel Logic
Steely Dan was back on the charts with their third album Pretzel Logic, which was released in 1974 and featured the hit single “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number”. The song reached No. 4 on the Billboard Music charts and became a staple on rock radio. Pretzel Logic also covered the Duke Ellington and Bubber Miley song “East St. Louis Toodle-oo” and gained its notoriety by being the only Steely Dan track that is solely instrumental in nature.
Steely Dan: A New Groove
The members of Steely Dan slowly began to go their separate ways and during the production of the band’s next album Katy Lied, the band was composed of a myriad of different guest instrumentalists. Yet, Katy Lied still reached gold status boasting the hits “Black Friday”, “Bad Snickers”, “Dr. Dru”, and “Chain Lightning”. Steely Dan’s next album The Royal Scam peaked at No. 15 on the charts. Clad with heavy guitar mixes, The Royal Scam featured the songs “The Fez” and “Kid Charlemagne”, the latter of which was sampled by Kanye West.
Steely Dan: Success at New Highs
For the next compilation, Steely Dan recruited the talents of professional jazz musicians Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour, Wayne Shorter, and Chuck Rainey. The album Aja was met with extreme success and won a multitude of awards. “Peg” was the first single released off of the album. The song featured Michael McDonald and reached No. 11 on the charts. Other songs featured on the album were “Deacon Blues” and “Josie”. Despite internal problems between the group members and management, Steely Dan released the next album Gaucho to rave reviews. Gaucho boasted the singles “Hey Nineteen” and “Time Out of Mind” featuring Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits on guitar.
Steely Dan: The Breakup
In June 1981, Steely Dan announced to the public that they would be temporarily parting ways. Fagen, in an attempt to nurture a solo career, compiled a mix of songs culminating in what he called Nightfly, which featured the song “Ruby Baby”. Nightfly however failed to reach the commercial success of the last two Steely Dan albums.
Steely Dan: Solo Projects
Five years after the breakup of Steely Dan, the group performed together again for the first time on the debut album of former model Rosie Vela. In 1993, Becker produced Fagen’s solo album Kamakiriad. To even the score, Fagen co-produced Becker’s first solo album 11 Tracks of Whack in the following year. In 1993, Becker and Fagen teamed up for a US tour to promote Fagen’s latest album. For the next three years, the group performed songs from both of their latest solo albums and in 1995 released Alive in America, which was a live album recording of their concerts on tour.
Steely Dan: Back Together
Their first studio album in over 20 years, Two Against Nature, proved to be wildly successful earning itself four Grammy Awards. Two Against Nature even beat out Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP for Album of the Year. In the summer of 2000, Steely Dan embarked on an international world tour.
In 2003, Steely Dan released their next album Everything Must Go and went on tour in the US the following year to promote the album. Everything Must Go featured a looser more live feel. Three years later Steely Dan began their 33-date tour in the summer of 2006. The tour immediately followed Donald Fagen’s summer promotional tour in honor of his first solo album in years, Morph the Cat.
Steely Dan: The Royal Tour-ers
May 5, 2007 kicked off The Heavy Rollers Tour in the heart of Memphis, Tennessee at the Beale Street Music Festival. The world tour made stops in North America, Europe, Australia, Japan, and New Zealand making it the longest Steely Dan tour in history. In March 2008, Steely Dan announced that they will be performing at the Montreal Jazz Festival in July of 2008 and in the meantime will be performing a number of live performances throughout the country.
Steely Dan: Discography
“Do It Again” from the album Can’t Buy a Thrill
“Reelin’ in the Years” from the album Can’t Buy a Thrill
“Showbiz Kids” from the album Countdown to Ecstasy
“My Old School” from the album Countdown to Ecstasy
“Bodhisattva” from the album Countdown to Ecstasy
“Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” from the album Pretzel Logic
“Pretzel Logic” from the album Pretzel Logic
“Charlie Freak” from the album Pretzel Logic
“Bad Sneakers” from the album Katy Lied
“Black Friday” from the album Katy Lied
“Everyone’s Gone to the Movies” from the album Katy Lied
“Charlemagne Kid” from the album The Royal Scam
“Everything You Did” from the album The Royal Scam
“The Royal Scam” from the album The Royal Scam
“Deacon Blues” from the album Aja
“Peg” from the album Aja
“Home at Last” from the album Aja
“Hey Nineteen” from the album Gaucho
“Time Out of Mind” from the album Gaucho
“Gaucho” from the album Gaucho
“Gaslighting Abbie” from the album Two Against Nature
“Janie Runaway” from the album Two Against Nature
“Cousin Dupree” from the album Two Against Nature
“Blues Beach” from the album Everything Must Go
| Event | Date/Time |
|---|
Questions? Call Us Toll Free:
