The backing vocalist who became the Doobie Brothers' new voice

Michael McDonald was born in 1952 in Ferguson, a St. Louis suburb, and played in local bands with names like Mike and the Majestics 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.

His next break came with Steely Dan. By his own account he put his piano in the back of his Pinto, drove to their rehearsal and auditioned, and he got the job on Wurlitzer electric piano and vocals less for his keyboard playing than because he could sing the high parts. After his first tour with them Steely Dan retired as a live act, but McDonald stayed on in the studio, singing on Katy Lied, The Royal Scam, Aja and Gaucho. One biographer considers his entrance on “Bad Sneakers” the most memorable part of that song.

In April 1975 the Doobie Brothers recruited him as a temporary replacement for lead vocalist Tom Johnston, who had fallen ill during a national tour. It worked so well that he stayed. He sang lead on “Real Love”, “Takin' It to the Streets”, “It Keeps You Runnin'” and “Minute by Minute”, and on “What a Fool Believes”, which became a US number one and won him the 1980 Grammy for Song of the Year alongside co-writer Kenny Loggins. In the same years he was a session vocalist and keyboardist for Christopher Cross, Bonnie Raitt, Toto and Loggins.

His solo career has produced nine studio albums, including the 1982 hit “I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near)”, and collaborations with everyone from James Ingram and Aretha Franklin to Joni Mitchell and Thundercat. He has won five Grammy Awards, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Doobie Brothers in 2020 and into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2025. Throughout, the constant has been that distinctive, soulful voice.