Profile
Michael McDonald
Singer-songwriter Michael McDonald, former member of The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan, has been awarded five Grammy Awards during his distinguished career. However, by maintaining a low-key profile, the contrast of McDonald as a person and as a musician is astounding.
Born in St. Louis on Feb. 12, 1952, singing was central to his life from the beginning. McDonald’s father was a bus driver and gifted amateur tenor. While in the Marine Corps during World War II, he once performed with Bob Crosby and the Bobcats and often sang for friends in local haunts around St. Louis. At the age of 4, McDonald make his public singing debut with “Love Is a Many Splendored Thing” for his dad and a roomful of delighted friends. His first instrument was the banjo, but he traded it in for a guitar in order to join his first band.
However, McDonald truly found his musical “voice” playing the piano. With his comfort level increased, he felt inspired to start writing songs rich in harmony.
Restless in St. Louis and determined to pursue music full-time, McDonald moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s. Through an early association with Rick Jarrard, whose production credits included José Feliciano, Harry Nilsson, and Jefferson Airplane, he started picking up session work as a singer and building a body of original material. Word spread quickly of the soft-spoken Midwesterner and his husky, passionate vocals.
With a career that has seen chart successes and sale feats, McDonald has retained his popularity, earned numerous accolades in his musical field and remains an enduring presence in popular music.
