Walter Carl Becker (February 20, 1950 – September 3, 2017) was an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was the co-founder, guitarist, bassist, and co-songwriter of the jazz rock band Steely Dan.[1][2]
Becker met future songwriting partner Donald Fagen while they were students at Bard College. After a brief period of activity in New York City, the two moved to Los Angeles in 1971 and formed the nucleus of Steely Dan, which enjoyed a critically and commercially successful ten-year career. Following the group's dissolution, Becker moved to Hawaii and reduced his musical activity, working primarily as a record producer. In 1985, he briefly became a member of the English band China Crisis, producing and playing synthesizer on their album Flaunt the Imperfection.
Becker and Fagen reformed Steely Dan in 1993 and remained active, recording Two Against Nature (2000), which won four Grammy Awards. Becker released two solo albums, 11 Tracks of Whack (1994) and Circus Money (2008). Following a brief battle with esophageal cancer, he died on September 3, 2017. He and Fagen are the only two members of Steely Dan who appeared on every studio album by the band.
Early life and career (1950–1971)
Becker was born in Queens, New York City. After Becker's parents separated when he was a boy, his British mother returned to England. Becker was made to believe by his father and grandmother that his mother was deceased, but at some point between his childhood and late adolescence, he discovered that she was living, and he maintained a rocky relationship with her from then on.[3] He was raised in Queens and Scarsdale, New York[4] by his father and his grandmother. His father, Carl Becker, sold paper-cutting machinery in Manhattan[5] where Walter graduated from Stuyvesant High School.[6] After starting out on saxophone, he switched to guitar and received instruction in blues technique from neighbor Randy California, who later formed the band Spirit.[7]
Donald Fagen overheard Becker playing guitar at a campus coffee shop, the Red Balloon, when they were both students at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. In a 2007 interview Fagen said, "I hear this guy practicing, and it sounded very professional and contemporary. It sounded like, you know, like a black person, really."[8][9] They formed the band Leather Canary, which included fellow student Chevy Chase on drums.[10] At the time, Chase called the group "a bad jazz band."[11]
In 1971, Becker and Fagen moved to Los Angeles and were hired by Gary Katz as staff songwriters at ABC Records, later forming Steely Dan with guitarists Denny Dias and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, drummer Jim Hodder, and vocalist David Palmer. Fagen played keyboards and sang, while Becker played bass guitar.[16][17][18] Steely Dan spent the next three years touring and recording before swearing off touring in 1974, confining themselves to the studio with personnel that changed for every album. In addition to co-writing all of the band's material, Becker played guitar and bass guitar and sang background vocals.[12]
Pretzel Logic (1974) was the first Steely Dan album to feature Becker on guitar. "Once I met [session musician] Chuck Rainey", he explained, "I felt there really was no need for me to be bringing my bass guitar to the studio anymore".[19]
Despite the success of Aja in 1977, Becker suffered from setbacks during this period, including an addiction to narcotics. After the duo returned to New York in 1978, Becker's girlfriend Karen Roberta Stanley, who was an employee of ABC Dunhill Records and personal manager for the band, died of a drug overdose in his apartment on January 30, 1980, resulting in a wrongful death lawsuit against him. Soon after, he was hit by a cab in Manhattan while crossing the street and was forced to walk with crutches while recovering.[6] His exhaustion was made worse by commercial pressure and the complicated recording of the album Gaucho (1980). Becker and Fagen suspended their partnership in June 1981.[20]
Work in record production (1981–1993)
Following Steely Dan's breakup, Becker and his family moved to Maui. Becker ceased using drugs,[21][22][23] stopped smoking and drinking,[24] and became an "avocado rancher and self-styled critic of the contemporary scene."[25]
Also in 1993, Steely Dan began touring for the first time in nineteen years, resulting in the 1995 release of their first live album, Alive in America, a compilation of live recordings from different American tour dates in 1993 and 1994.
In 2000 they released Two Against Nature, their first album of new material in twenty years. The album won four Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. In 2001 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received honorary doctorates from the Berklee College of Music, which they accepted in person.[33] In 2003, they released the album Everything Must Go with Becker singing lead vocal on "Slang of Ages".[34] They followed the album with a tour.[35]
In 2005, Becker co-produced and played bass guitar on the album All One by Krishna Das and played guitar on the album Tough on Crime by Rebecca Pidgeon. He co-wrote "I'm All Right" from the album Half the Perfect World (2006) by Madeleine Peyroux, and "You Can't Do Me" and the title track from her album Bare Bones (2009). See the "Collaborations" section below for a full list of Becker's work with other artists.
His second solo album, Circus Money, was released on June 10, 2008, fourteen years after its predecessor.[37] The songs were inspired by reggae and other styles of Jamaican music.[7]
Instruments and equipment
Becker was a collector of musical equipment, accumulating hundreds of guitars and amplifiers, as well as numerous other instruments, pedals, pre-wired pedalboards, "speakers, recording gear, and ephemera."[38] In concert, he often played custom-built guitars modeled after Stratocasters.[39]
After his death, his gear was auctioned off by Julien's for US$3.3 million in total. Becker's guitar and amp collection was the largest ever sold by Julien's, whose owner said "what made [the] collection unique" was that Becker "literally played all of them."[38][40][41][42]
In a column for Guitar Player magazine published in 1994, Becker coined the acronym G.A.S. ("Guitar Acquisition Syndrome"), denoting the uncontrolled accumulation of music gear.[43][44] The term was later adapted as Gear Acquisition Syndrome in online forums and music magazines.
Personal life
In 1975 Becker married Juanna Fatouros.[45][46] In 1984 he married Elinor Roberta Meadows, a yoga teacher, and the couple had a son [47] and an adopted daughter Sayan.[48] They divorced in 1997. Becker wrote "Little Kawai" for his son, and it became the final song on 11 Tracks of Whack.[49][5]
Becker is survived by his wife Delia (née Cioffi).[50]
Illness and death
In the spring of 2017, Becker was diagnosed with "an aggressive form of esophageal cancer" during an annual medical checkup.[51] Despite undergoing vigorous treatment, the cancer rapidly worsened to the point that he did not perform at Steely Dan's concerts in the months that followed. He died from the disease on September 3, 2017, at the age of 67[52] at his home in Manhattan, New York City.[53] At the time of his death, no cause or other details were announced,[16] but a statement released in November by Becker's widow, Delia Becker, detailed his struggle with the disease.[54]
In a statement released to the media the day of Becker's death, Fagen recalled his long-time friend and musical partner as "smart as a whip, an excellent guitarist and a great songwriter," and closed by stating that he intended to "keep the music we created together alive as long as I can with the Steely Dan band."[55]
1970: Linda Hoover, I Mean To Shine (Omnivore Recordings, released 2022) – bass, arranger, co-writer (with Donald Fagen) of five songs
1970–1971: Jay and the Americans, touring band – bass
1970: Jay and the Americans, Capture the Moment (United Artists), "Capture the Moment", "Tricia (Tell Your Daddy)", "She’ll Be Young Forever" and "Thoughts That I’ve Taken To Bed" – co-arranger (with Donald Fagen) strings and horns, bass
^J. L. Kelley (2021). "West of Hollywood: Humor as reparation in the life and work of Walter Becker." In: E. Vanderheiden & C.-H. Mayer (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Humour Research (pp. 363-379). London: Palgrave Macmillan
^ abSweet, Brian (2000). Steely Dan: Reelin' in the Years. Omnibus Press. pp. 11–. ISBN978-0-7119-8279-6. Retrieved June 18, 2009. Walter Becker was born on Monday, February 20, 1950, in the Forest Hills area of Queens in New York
^Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (2012). Rock 'n' Roll Myths: The True Stories Behind the Most Infamous Legends. Minneapolis, MN: Voyageur Press. p. 204. ISBN978-0760342305.
