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Walter Becker was born in New York City on February 20, 1950; he was
involved in music since his childhood, when he started to play melodica,
saxophone, acoustic guitar and bass. Becker met Donald
Fagen at Bard College in Annandale-On Hudson, New York in 1967. They
formed several college bands and also started to write songs together.
But it was in 1972 in Los Angeles, that they formed the internationally
renowned Jazz-influenced Rock band Steely Dan.
Steely Dan punctuated the remainder of the decade with six releases,
but after the appearance of 1980's "Gaucho" they went separate
ways. By this time Fagen had returned to New York, where he briefly launched
a career as a solo artist; Becker retired to Hawaii and removed himself
from the music scene entirely for several years. In the mid-'80s he resumed
activity once again, but as a producer rather than a performer, helming
the third and fifth albums by China Crisis, before moving on to releases
by Rickie Lee Jones, Michael Franks and then numerous others in the '90s
including Fagen's second solo album, "Kamakiriad".
Walter Becker and Donald Fagen re-formed
Steely Dan in 1994 but they didn't put out a new album.
Between tours with the band, Becker released his first solo effort "11
Tracks Of Whack" in September 1994, Fagen played keyboards on the
record and co-produced it, but the disc failed to achieve commercial success
and charted only on the Billboard's Top Heatseekers Albums list, peaking
at #11.
After a third tour in 1996, recording for a new Steely Dan album was initiated;
it would finally materialize as "Two Against Nature" in 2000
and earn Becker and Fagen their first three Grammy awards. The duo continued
their collaborative output in 2003 with "Everything Must Go".
Walter Becker's second proper album, "Circus Money", arrived
in June 2008, 14 years after his first solo record.
Walter Becker biography is an exclusive of 100xr.com
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