The Unforgettable vocals of Michael McDonald
We all know his songs…including “I Keep Forgettin'”, “Minute by Minute” and don’t forget “Yah Mo B There”. He has a deep, buttery smooth yet gritty voice, plays R&B style soul-jazz and pop tunes and was one of the early contributors to what later became known as Yacht Rock, one of the most commercially successful music genres from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s.
Michael McDonald was born on February 12, 1952, into a Roman Catholic Irish American family in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. McDonald attended McCluer High School, where he played in local bands, including Mike and the Majestics. His father who fought in WWII, although never drank alcohol was a pub singer in small places across Missouri. Michael explained in a recent interview one of his father’s most requested songs was the traditional Irish favorite Danny Boy.
McDonald grew up listening to Broadway show tunes, rhythm and blues (R&B), and the Beatles. He formed his first band, Mike and the Majestics, while he was in high school and later developed his singing and keyboard skills while working in St. Louis nightclubs. In 1970, while playing with a band called Blue, he was discovered in an Illinois night club by RCA staff producer Rick Jarrard, who offered him a record contract and brought him to Los Angeles.
In 1970 McDonald moved to Los Angeles, playing gigs in small clubs throughout the San Fernando Valley. He eventually recorded a handful of unsuccessful demos and singles but in 1973 joined the group Steely Dan as a session backup vocalist and keyboardist. He became a member of Steely Dan’s touring band in 1974 and contributed backing vocals to songs such as “Bad Sneakers” and “Black Friday” from the group’s 1975 album Katy Lied.
In 1975 Jeff Baxter, a guitarist for the Doobie Brothers, recommended that McDonald temporarily replace the band’s lead singer, Tom Johnston, who was ill at the time, on tour. The band was so impressed with McDonald that they invited him to become a full-time band member. As their lead vocalist, McDonald cowrote and performed on hit singles such as “Takin’ It to the Streets” (1976), “It Keeps You Runnin’ ” (1976), the multiple Grammy Award-winning “What a Fool Believes” (1979), “Minute by Minute” (1979), and “Real Love” (1980).
Although he was now full time with the Doobie Brothers, he maintained a close relationship with Steely Dan and added backing vocals to tracks on the group’s “The Royal Scam” (1976), “Aja” (1977), and “Gaucho” (1980) and perhaps most memorably on the band’s 1977 hit single “Peg.”
Michael McDonald stands 5 ft 10 in. and married the love of his life and singer in her own right, Amy Holland on May 21, 1983 and they have 2 children Dylan (born in 1987) and Scarlett (born in 1991). The family live in the beautiful coastal city of Santa Barbara, California.