Very sad news that has just been officially posted on his website. No news reports yet.

[www.walterbecker.com]

wow, he had some health issues recently

Oh, that's shocking! They were going to play London and Dublin in October.
Very sad.

this bums me out. i met once. nice guy & a favorite musician of mine. RIP

Very sad news to hear.
I was only playing pretzel logic last week.
Loved there 70s albums.

[www.youtube.com]

Oh, this is very sad. I love Steely Dan and was able to see them several times in the last 10 years. After Shine A Light came out, I was so fascinated by the Beacon that I saw SD there, and several times since. I think the last time was 2 years ago in Michigan on a double bill with Elvis Costello - an excellent evening. Such great music - thanks Walter. Safe journey and rest in peace.

Very sad news - I love Steely Dan's 70's Albums

I was lucky to see Steely Dan a few times @ the Beacon Theatre in NYC....Very sad...Rest In Peace Walter

RIP man

[www.rollingstone.com]

Walter Becker was my friend, my writing partner and my bandmate since we met as students at Bard College in 1967. We started writing nutty little tunes on an upright piano in a small sitting room in the lobby of Ward Manor, a mouldering old mansion on the Hudson River that the college used as a dorm.

We liked a lot of the same things: jazz (from the twenties through the mid-sixties), W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, science fiction, Nabokov, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Berger, and Robert Altman films come to mind. Also soul music and Chicago blues.

Walter had a very rough childhood - I’ll spare you the details. Luckily, he was smart as a whip, an excellent guitarist and a great songwriter. He was cynical about human nature, including his own, and hysterically funny. Like a lot of kids from fractured families, he had the knack of creative mimicry, reading people’s hidden psychology and transforming what he saw into bubbly, incisive art. He used to write letters (never meant to be sent) in my wife Libby’s singular voice that made the three of us collapse with laughter.

His habits got the best of him by the end of the seventies, and we lost touch for a while. In the eighties, when I was putting together the NY Rock and Soul Review with Libby, we hooked up again, revived the Steely Dan concept and developed another terrific band.

I intend to keep the music we created together alive as long as I can with the Steely Dan band.

Donald Fagen

September 3 2017


"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2017-09-03 18:38 by Deltics.

Walter Becker

February 20, 1950
-
September 03, 2017



RIP Walter Becker

Thank you SO MUCH for your brilliant music!

DS



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2017-11-18 21:50 by schillid.

I had the pleasure of attending this show in Greenwich, CT a few months ago. It would later prove to be Walter Becker's final performance with Steely Dan, I think.

(Note that SD's long-time guitarist, Jon Herington was absent at this show -- replaced by SD veteran Larry Carlton.)

FULL SHOW:



[www.youtube.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2017-09-03 19:44 by schillid.

RIP

Though I have to say Steely Dan produced some of the most drab, boring elevator music known to man...somehow they had a following

That's very sad news. Their 70's albums were really great. I often play "Aja".An amazing studio work. RIP

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chop
RIP

Though I have to say Steely Dan produced some of the most drab, boring elevator music known to man...somehow they had a following

musicians understand how great those great those guys were (are).

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chop
RIP

Though I have to say Steely Dan produced some of the most drab, boring elevator music known to man...somehow they had a following

Very ingnorant staement

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Cooltoplady

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chop
RIP

Though I have to say Steely Dan produced some of the most drab, boring elevator music known to man...somehow they had a following

Very ingnorant staement

Nasty too

Whoa, horrible news. RIP.

Statement by Donald Fagen:

Walter Becker was my friend, my writing partner and my bandmate since we met as students at Bard College in 1967. We started writing nutty little tunes on an upright piano in a small sitting room in the lobby of Ward Manor, a mouldering old mansion on the Hudson River that the college used as a dorm.

We liked a lot of the same things: jazz (from the twenties through the mid-sixties), W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, science fiction, Nabokov, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Berger, and Robert Altman films come to mind. Also soul music and Chicago blues.

Walter had a very rough childhood — I’ll spare you the details. Luckily, he was smart as a whip, an excellent guitarist and a great songwriter. He was cynical about human nature, including his own, and hysterically funny. Like a lot of kids from fractured families, he had the knack of creative mimicry, reading people’s hidden psychology and transforming what he saw into bubbly, incisive art. He used to write letters (never meant to be sent) in my wife Libby’s singular voice that made the three of us collapse with laughter.
His habits got the best of him by the end of the seventies, and we lost touch for a while. In the eighties, when I was putting together the NY Rock and Soul Review with Libby, we hooked up again, revived the Steely Dan concept and developed another terrific band.

I intend to keep the music we created together alive as long as I can with the Steely Dan band.

All the more reason to see the Stones NOW.

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crholmstrom

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chop
RIP

Though I have to say Steely Dan produced some of the most drab, boring elevator music known to man...somehow they had a following

musicians understand how great those great those guys were (are).

I am not a musician, but I understand.
RIP

Really sad to hear this. Those classic 70s recordings were the soundtrack to my teens and from there on.

Only got to see them once and that was at the bizarre location of Aintree Race track in Liverpool a few years back, but they were excellent....well worth watching some of The Dukes of September clips on YouTube.

RIP Walter.

Him and Fagen put together a great band and wrote great songs.
They were unique in a lot of ways. They were sort of pop, definitely intelligent, quirky. There was a lot of depth there. A song like Rikki Don't Lose was a pop hit but it wasn't disposable. There is a lot of depth to their music. They didn't really have the typical rock sensibility. More understated.
They were private, too. The statement from Fagen, above, is more revealing that most things I have read about them.
They had a great partnership.

I found this/ good little read on Steely Dan.
[rockportraits.wordpress.com]

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steffialicia

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Cooltoplady

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chop
RIP

Though I have to say Steely Dan produced some of the most drab, boring elevator music known to man...somehow they had a following

Very ingnorant staement

Nasty too

I hate when people say shit like that when someone dies. Regardless of your feelings on someone's art, just say RIP and leave it at that.

Too bad, too soon. Loved Steely Dan.

~"Love is Strong"~

Oh crap.

My wife and I just saw them at the Santa Barbra Bowl April 25...such a good show, as was every Steely Dan show I've seen in the past.

Stunned and saddened...

RIP WALTER.



_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

True genius. A part of one of my favourite bands. Terribly saddened by this news. Bugga.

RIP.

Rod

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keefriff99

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steffialicia

Quote
Cooltoplady

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chop
RIP

Though I have to say Steely Dan produced some of the most drab, boring elevator music known to man...somehow they had a following

Very ingnorant staement

Nasty too

I hate when people say shit like that when someone dies. Regardless of your feelings on someone's art, just say RIP and leave it at that.

Yes insensitive and inappropriate.