Michael Mcdonald Popular Books

Michael Mcdonald Biography & Facts

Michael H. McDonald (born February 12, 1952) is an American singer, keyboardist and songwriter known for his distinctive, soulful voice and as a member of Steely Dan (1973–1974), and the Doobie Brothers (1975–1982, 1987, 2019–present). McDonald wrote and sang several hit singles with the Doobie Brothers, including "What a Fool Believes", "Minute by Minute", and "Takin' It to the Streets." McDonald has also performed as a prominent backing vocalist on numerous recordings by artists including Steely Dan, Christopher Cross, and Kenny Loggins. McDonald's solo career consists of nine studio albums and a number of singles, including the 1982 hit "I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near)". During his career, McDonald has collaborated with a number of other artists, including James Ingram, David Cassidy, Van Halen, Patti LaBelle, Lee Ritenour, The Winans, Aretha Franklin, Toto, Grizzly Bear, Joni Mitchell, and Thundercat. He has also recorded for television and film soundtracks. McDonald is the recipient of five Grammy Awards, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Doobie Brothers in 2020. Early years McDonald was born on February 12, 1952, into a 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, Jerry Jay and the Sheratons, the Reeb-Toors/Younger Brothers and the Guild. 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. Steely Dan McDonald became a member of Steely Dan's touring band in 1973, singing lead and backing vocals. As he recalled in a 2016 interview: I literally threw my piano in the back of my Pinto and drove down to where they were rehearsing and auditioned. Remarkably I got the gig, not because of my keyboard playing but because I could sing all the high parts. I could tell that appealed to Donald (Fagen)—'cause I could sing like a girl. McDonald became one of the many in-studio adjunct members of the band, providing backing vocals on tracks for 1975's Katy Lied. He appeared on subsequent Steely Dan recordings, including 1976's The Royal Scam and 1977's Aja. He also played keyboards on some Steely Dan tracks.McDonald continued to provide backing vocals for Steely Dan through their 1980 release, Gaucho. In 2006, he joined Steely Dan on the band's summer tour, both as the opening act and as part of the band. The Doobie Brothers McDonald was recruited by the Doobie Brothers in April 1975, initially as a temporary replacement for their lead vocalist Tom Johnston after he became ill during a national tour. McDonald's work with the band proved so successful that they decided to retain him as a full-time member. As a member of the Doobie Brothers, McDonald sang lead vocals on some of the band's best-known songs, such as "Real Love", "Takin' It to the Streets", "Little Darling (I Need You)", "It Keeps You Runnin'", "Minute by Minute", and "What a Fool Believes" (which became a number-one single in the U.S. and earned him a 1980 Grammy Award for Song of the Year along with co-writer Kenny Loggins). At the same time, McDonald appeared as a session vocalist and keyboardist for various artists, including Christopher Cross, Stephen Bishop, Jack Jones, Bonnie Raitt, the band Toto, and Kenny Loggins. McDonald co-wrote "You Belong to Me" with Carly Simon, which is on the Doobie Brothers' studio album Livin' on the Fault Line (1977).McDonald has reunited as a guest performer with the Doobie Brothers several times since the band's initial dissolution in 1982. He reteamed with them for the track "Don't Say Goodbye" on the band's thirteenth studio album, World Gone Crazy (2010). In March 2014, he reunited with the band to record a new album featuring the greatest hits of their 40-plus-year career. This project was completed in conjunction with Sony Music Nashville. On the album, McDonald shares lead vocals with Sara Evans for "What a Fool Believes", the duo Love and Theft for "Takin' It to the Streets", and Amanda Sudano-Ramirez for "You Belong to Me." The album titled Southbound was released on November 4, 2014, as the Doobie Brothers' fourteenth studio album. On November 5, 2014, McDonald and the Doobie Brothers were featured musical guests on the 47th annual Country Music Association Awards to celebrate the release of Southbound. They were joined by Hunter Hayes, Jennifer Nettles, and Hillary Scott in their performance of "Listen to the Music". At the end of the awards ceremony, they were also joined by host Brad Paisley for "Takin' It to the Streets". Solo career After the Doobie Brothers' first farewell tour, McDonald released his first solo studio album, If That's What It Takes, in 1982, on the Warner Bros. label. The album featured the hit singles "I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near)" and "I Gotta Try", the latter co-written with Kenny Loggins, who also recorded it that same year for his fourth album High Adventure. He continued to collaborate with other artists during this period. McDonald co-wrote Van Halen's top-20 hit "I'll Wait", from their biggest-selling album 1984. "Yah Mo B There", a duet with James Ingram, won the 27th Annual Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. In 1985, he released his second studio album No Lookin' Back, his first time co-producing an album. He also wrote or co-wrote all of the tracks and featured a minor hit with the title track, cowritten by Kenny Loggins. By June 1986, the album had met with little success, but McDonald then had a huge boost with the release of the single "Sweet Freedom", which appeared on the soundtrack to the Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines film Running Scared, and was McDonald's last top-10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The No Lookin' Back album was then re-released in some markets with the new hit single included, as well as a few songs remixed. The single "On My Own", a duet with Patti LaBelle, reached number one on the U.S. charts in 1986. Mid that year, he performed as a backing vocalist on the rock band Toto's studio album Fahrenheit, appearing on the hit single "I'll Be Over You" and its accompanying video. On August 22, 1986, McDonald appeared in an episode of The Young and the Restless. Later that year, he provided backing vocals on the Wang Chung song "A Fool and His Money" from their studio album Mosaic. In 1987, McDonald did a featured collaboration, titled "Love Has No Color", with gospel quartet the Winans from their studio album Decisions. In 1990, McDonald released his third studio album, Take It to Heart, which featured a minor hit with the title track, co-written by Diane Warren. The following year, he joined the New York Rock and Soul Revue, put together by Steely Dan's lead vocalist Donald Fagen and featuring other artists such as Boz Scaggs and Phoe.... Discover the Michael Mcdonald popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Michael Mcdonald books.

Best Seller Michael Mcdonald Books of 2024

  • Old Mars synopsis, comments

    Old Mars

    George R.R. Martin, Gardner Dozois, Michael Moorcock, Joe R. Lansdale & James S. A. Corey

    Fifteen allnew stories by science fiction’s top talents, collected by bestselling author George R. R. Martin and multipleaward winning editor Gardner Dozois   Burroughs’s A Pr...

  • Mother synopsis, comments

    Mother

    Michael McDonald

    Since the Great Calamity of February 14th, 2016, population rates have been dwindling. The cause: Mother Nature. A brilliant scientist juggles her relationships with her grouchy ...

  • The Best of the Best, Volume 2 synopsis, comments

    The Best of the Best, Volume 2

    Gardner Dozois

    For more than twenty years The Year's Best Science Fiction has been recognized as the best collection of short science fiction writing in the universe and an essential resource for...

  • The Deep Dark Descending synopsis, comments

    The Deep Dark Descending

    Allen Eskens

    A homicide detective hunts down his wife's killers while struggling between his thirst for revenge and a twinge of conscience forbidding him to take the law into his own hands. Hom...

  • What a Fool Believes synopsis, comments

    What a Fool Believes

    Michael McDonald & Paul Reiser

    A sweeping and evocative memoir from the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Grammy Award–winning, platinum selling singersongwriter Michael McDonald, written with his friend, Emmy Awar...

  • The Mammoth Book of Cthulhu synopsis, comments

    The Mammoth Book of Cthulhu

    Paula Guran

    For more than 80 years H. P. Lovecraft has inspired writers of horror and supernatural fiction with his dark vision of humankind's insignificant place in a vast, uncaring cosmos. A...

  • SoHo Sins synopsis, comments

    SoHo Sins

    Richard Vine

    Portrait in BLOODThey were the New York art scene’s golden couple until the day Amanda Oliver was found murdered in her SoHo loft, and her husband Philip confessed to shooting her...

  • Last Confession synopsis, comments

    Last Confession

    Michael J. McDonald

    Richard Adams is a father, in more ways than one. Once a man of the cloth, he gave it all up to live the family life, but acts of God took his wife and then his daughter away from...

  • Bonkers synopsis, comments

    Bonkers

    Jennifer Saunders

    THE HILARIOUS, TOUCHING LIFE STORY OF THE ICONIC COMEDIAN AND NATIONAL TREASURE 'Fabulous? Yes. Funny? Absolutely' Mail on SundayJennifer Saunders' comic creations have brought joy...

  • Old Venus synopsis, comments

    Old Venus

    George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois

    Sixteen allnew stories by science fiction’s top talents, collected by bestselling author George R. R. Martin and multipleawardwinning editor Gardner Dozois   From pulp adventu...

  • The Aran Islands synopsis, comments

    The Aran Islands

    J.M. Synge

    In 1907 J. M. Synge achieved both notoriety and lasting fame with The Playboy of the Western World. The Aran Islands, published in the same year, records his visits to the islands ...

  • UnderWorld synopsis, comments

    UnderWorld

    Michael McDonald

    It was war, and that made it all right. A servant girl is caught at ground zero of the Great Calamity, sparking a war that forces the inhabitants of a fractured world together und...

  • Fall to Climb synopsis, comments

    Fall to Climb

    Michael McDonald

    Someone has to take the fall. In this collection of stories, things have gone terribly wrong, and the most unlikely of candidates is driven to step forth and try to make a differe...

  • Falling and Laughing synopsis, comments

    Falling and Laughing

    Grace Maxwell

    In February 2005, Edwyn Collins suffered two devastating brain haemorrhages. He should have died. Doctors advised that if he did survive, there would be little of him left. If that...

  • The Dreamer synopsis, comments

    The Dreamer

    Cliff Richard

    'Before Cliff Richard and the Shadows, there was nothing worth listening to in British music.' John Lennon.Cliff Richard tells his story, in his own words, in his highly anticipa...

  • The Game synopsis, comments

    The Game

    Michael McDonald

    A hapless geek finds himself on the beta program for a revolutionary operating system in a Faustian deal that grants him the perfect job and perfect life in exchange for simply gi...

  • Ladybird Songs and Rhymes for Every Day synopsis, comments

    Ladybird Songs and Rhymes for Every Day

    Ladybird

    A beautifully illustrated collection of over 100 wellloved classic songs and nursery rhymes for every part of your child’s day."Every time we share these songs and rhymes with chil...

  • The Social Brain synopsis, comments

    The Social Brain

    Tracey Camilleri, Samantha Rockey & Robin Dunbar

    'A remarkable and important book . . . a highly accessible, timely and invaluable guide to anybody working in groups.' Prof Paul Gilbert OBEHow many people does the ideal team con...

  • The Furthest Horizon synopsis, comments

    The Furthest Horizon

    Gardner Dozois

    It is the essence of science fiction to chart the possibilities of the future, but it takes the hand of a master to capture the farthest reaches of timefutures almost unimaginably ...

  • Field Notes from the Edge synopsis, comments

    Field Notes from the Edge

    Paul Evans

    ‘A profoundly satisfying read’ Financial TimesIn Field Notes from the Edge, the acclaimed writer of the Guardian's 'Country Diary', Paul Evans, takes us on a journey through the in...

  • Dismantle synopsis, comments

    Dismantle

    Michael McDonald

    A week is a long time in politics. In diary format, one political candidate chronicles his drastic change of fortune as he goes from the potential Prime Minister to a pariah withi...

  • Good Enough synopsis, comments

    Good Enough

    Michael McDonald

    Countess Amy de Metter is in trouble. Brother Puck is in love. Imprisoned by her king, the Countess stands accused of a crime she will neither confess nor recant. The monk besee...

  • Standing Our Ground synopsis, comments

    Standing Our Ground

    Lucy McBath

    From the national spokesperson for Everytown for Gun Safety and a mother who “turned her sorrow into a strategy and her mourning into a movement” (Hillary Clinton) comes the riveti...

  • A Christmas Tale, The Lost History of Michael McDonald synopsis, comments

    A Christmas Tale, The Lost History of Michael McDonald

    Patrick Meservier

    In a small Maine town murder is on the mind of one individual who will do anything to find the money owed to them fifty years ago. So much time has passed in fact that this grudge ...

  • TERMINAL IMPULSES synopsis, comments

    TERMINAL IMPULSES

    Michael McDonald-Low

    Stephanie Courtland has two very secret, very dangerous girlfriends who haunt her life with extreme compulsions and mysterious blackouts. She doesn't question what she does during ...