Happy Birthday, Michael McDonald
|
 Singer Michael McDonald celebrates his 56th birthday February 12th.
With his husky and emotive voice, McDonald has become one of the most distinctive singers in pop music. He started in local bands around St. Louis in the mid '60s, playing keyboards and developing his vocal and songwriting craft. He move to Los Angeles, signing a solo deal with RCA and meeting up with Steely Dan, with whom he toured in the early '70s and also recorded on several of their albums.
He joined California rock group the Doobie Brothers in the mid '70s as a tour musician, later becoming a key part of the group's biggest hits like "Taking It To The Streets," "What A Fool Believes," "Minute By Minute," and "Real Love." He also sang or contributed songs on many other artists' albums, including Toto, Christopher Cross, Donna Summer, and Kenny Loggins.
After the Doobie Brothers' farewell tour, McDonald released his first solo album, If That's What It Takes, in 1982, featuring the Grammy nominated single "I Keep Forgettin'."
In 1984 he won a Grammy for co-writing his duet with James Ingram, "Yah Mo Be There." The year 1986 found McDonald pairing with Patti LaBelle for the smash "On My Own" and contributing the tune "Sweet Freedom" to the film Running Scared, scoring huge pop hits.
After embarking on Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan reunion tours and relocating to Nashville, the '90s found McDonald releasing solo albums and continuing to work with several artists, touring with Donald Fagen's Rock & Soul Revue. His 1996 album, Blue Obsession, found the blue-eyed soul singer performing both new songs and soul favorites, paving the way for his double-platinum Motown and gold-certified Motown 2 albums, released in 2003 and 2004, respectively.
McDonald currently appears on the new album by Chaka Khan, titled Funk This! on a duet of his composition "You Belong To Me." His most recent CD release was actually the 2005 holiday set Through The Many Winters, which was available exclusively through Hallmark stores.
He will release a new album called Soul Speak on March 11th, mostly made up of covers. His versions of the Bacharach-David composition "Walk On By" the Teddy Pendergrass classic "Love TKO," and Jackie Wilson's "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher" are getting play on various radio formats.
Michael McDonald on recording legendary Motown songs originated by Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and Smokey Robinson: "So many of 'em are so classic, you know, these songs were big hits in their day. But I think what's mostly amazing about 'em is they've stood the test of time. I mean, you hear these songs on the radio every day now. So there were a lot of things about it that were kind of, well, gosh -- should anyone do this, you know? I'm not sure. But it was almost because it wasn't my idea, I felt free to at least jump in there with both feet."
Michael McDonald on being grateful for his longevity: "Being an artist of the '70s more or less and being out here doing these things, I spent a lot of years at Warners, I just feel really lucky to have been an artist at Warners during the '70s and '80s. But you get that feeling over the years that your time is kinda -- in terms of being a hot contemporary entity -- there's only so much you can ask for at this point, you know."
More Smooth Jazz Music News
|
|
|
|
|
