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Steely Dan is a pseudonym for the songwriting team of Walter Becker (bass/vocals) and Donald Fagen (vocals/keyboards), who first met at Bard College in 1967 and performed together in various small-time groups before moving to New York City in 1971 to become professional songwriters. Through their publishing house the pair met producer Gary Katz, who suggested they form a band in order to have more of their songs recorded.
Calling themselves Steely Dan, the name of a dildo in Naked Lunch, the duo recruited a cast of session musicians -- Denny Dias (guitar), Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (guitar), David Palmer (keyboards) and Jim Hodder (drummer) -- and recorded an album, 1972's Can't Buy a Thrill, for their label, ABC. With overtones of jazz, blues and soul, the unusual album was a surprise success, spawning two Top 10 singles, "Do It Again" and "Reeling in the Years." Unfortunately the band's first tour was a mess, prompting Palmer to quit the band. Steely Dan's 1973 follow-up, Countdown to Ecstasy, was a commercial failure, despite praise from critics.
Changing drummers and permanently replacing Palmer with Michael McDonald, the group returned to the studio for their third album, 1974's Pretzel Logic, which featured the Top 10 hit "Rikki Don't Lose That Number." In an unexpected move, the band refused to capitalize on their renewed success and announced they would cease touring to become strictly a studio act. With a mostly new cast of session musicians, Becker and Fagen recorded their next Steely Dan release, Katy Lied, which was released in 1975. Even without live performances to bolster record sales, Katy Lied performed respectably and became a cult hit. Following the released of 1976's The Royal Scam, Becker and Fagen hired jazz fusion musicians to assist on their 1977 release Aja, a critical and commercial success that reached the Top 5 and became their first platinum record.
Unfortunately for Becker and Fagen, their rising fortunes came to a sudden halt when ABC Records was bought out by MCA, creating contractual problems; after all issues were resolved, the next Steely Dan album, Gaucho, was released in late 1980 and quickly entered the Top 10. Less than a year later Becker and Fagen ended their professional relationship. Fagen released a successful solo album in 1984, then both songwriters virtually disappeared from the music scene. Not surprisingly, a number of Steely Dan compilations and rare recordings were released during the 1980s, as the group's loyal fan base slowly expanded through word of mouth and classic rock radio.
In 1993 Donald Fagen released his long-awaited second solo album, Kamakiriad, a Steely Dan-sounding effort produced by his old friend Walter Becker. While working together on the record, Fagen and Becker talked about re-starting Steely Dan; the same year, MCA released the 4 CD "complete Steely Dan" compilation, Citizen Steely Dan, and the notoriously reclusive "band" mounted its first tour in nearly 20 years. In 1995, Fagen returned a favor by producing Becker's solo album, 11 Tracks of Whack.
Steely Dan continued touring periodically through 1996, at which point they settled down to begin work on their first studio album in 20 years. The result, Two Against Nature, was finally released in 2000, winning four awards (including Album of the Year) at the 43rd Annual Grammys in 2001. The duo was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in March of that year.
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