Walter Becker of Steely Dan Dead at 67

Walter Becker, co-founder, guitarist, bassist and co-songwriter of Steely Dan, died this morning according his official website. No cause or other information was given, though he’s been battling illness this summer.

The Queens, N.Y., native met his bandmate Donald Fagen at Bard College. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen first crossed paths in 1967, when both were students at Bard College in upstate New York. Discovering they had common musical and literary interests, in addition to a shared dark sense of humor, they became fast friends. Forming a song writing partnership, they would hone their craft over the next 5 years, first by landing a small publishing deal in New York, which then led to work as session and touring musicians with the pop group Jay And The Americans. By 1971, upon the recommendation of ABC/Dunhill producer Gary Katz, they had signed on as staff songwriters and relocated to Los Angeles. During these early years, Becker and Fagen had written a considerable amount of original material that nobody seemed too keen on recording, so they took the next logical step and formed a band to record it them selves.

For the initial Steely Dan lineup, they recruited East Coast friends Denny Dias and Jeff Baxter on guitars, along with drummer Jim Hodder and lead singer David Palmer. Combining a penchant for jazz, blues and R&B with the more commercial leanings of rock & roll and Brill Building-era pop, Becker and Fagen sculpted their songs from a wide-ranging musical palette. Their ability to combine beautiful melodies with lyrics of an often sarcastic and cynical nature would prove a winning formula over the course of the first several albums. Immaculate musicianship and a relentless pursuit of perfectionism in the studio would result in one of the most enduring musical legacies of the 1970s.