Takin’ It To The Streets

With Special Guest Star Michael McDonald

A look at several great guest vocal performances by singer Michael McDonald

Image source: Screenshot from the official music video for “What A Fool Believes” by The Doobie Brothers. Video source: Warner Music Group via The Rhino Channel on YouTube

Musician Michael McDonald first became famous when he joined The Doobie Brothers in the mid-1970s. His first album with them was Takin’ It To The Streets in 1976. The album was a big hit and his very unique voice quickly became a favorite of many music listeners.

However, to several of them, his voice already sounded familiar because they’d heard it on Steely Dan’s Katy Lied album, which was released a year earlier. Though not an official member of Steely Dan, Michael McDonald toured with them as a keyboardist and background singer prior to the recording of Katy Lied. It went very well and the band asked Michael to sing background on several tracks on the album.

This relationship continued on, even after Michael joined The Doobie Brothers. He continued to perform background vocals for Steely Dan on their next few albums. Around this same time, several other musicians started enlisting Michael’s services as a background and harmony vocalist on their recordings.

This continued on throughout his hit-making years in The Doobie Brothers and also later during his own successful solo career.