Life is a journey, and it reaches a time when one has to make a final bow. Walter Becker, the co-founder, bassist and guitarist of Steely Dan passed on at the age of 67. The world received the tragic news on Sunday morning. His website was the first to announce his death but didn’t mention the cause except for the date of his birth and the time of his death.

Fagen paid tribute to his late friend

According to Rolling Stone, Donald Fagen paid tribute to the late star and said he was his friend, a writing partner and a bandmate since they met at Bard College in 1967.

He described Becker as smart, a great songwriter, and an excellent guitarist who was cynical about human nature-including his, and funny. He was down to earth, and The New York Times recalled that there was once a time Becker and his bandmate Fagen were in a booth having lunch in a fully packed restaurant close to the Maui airport in 1997. The world "wouldn’t imagine" the likes of David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Paul Simon or Paul McCartney doing such a thing but the Steely Dan lead members had the gift of relative anonymity in a field where celebrity status could cause damage.

The star skipped the July concert due to an ailment

Becker was not present in the band’s Classic East and West concerts in July "following an unspecified illness," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Fagen had said at the time that Walter was recovering from a procedure, and he hoped he would be okay. The doctor had advised the guitarist to stay at his Maui home and not go for performances.

A brief history of the band

Steely Dan was formed in the early 1970s after Becker met Fagen at Bard College in New York. The band was known for its ability to make R&B and jazz music calming and often patient.

They produced albums such as 1974’s “Pretzel Logic” and 1977’s “Aja” which topped the charts. After releasing “Gaucho” in 1980, the band drifted and reunited in 1993. In 2000, “Two Against Nature” was made public and was their first studio album in two decades and it won a Grammy Award for album of the year.

Their popular songs which enjoyed massive airplay in the 1970s and early 1980s were “Deacon Blues,” “Peg,” “Black Friday, “Reelin’ in the Years,” “Do it Again,” “Hey Nineteen” and “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.” Becker and Fagen never gave up on their musical goal even in the 1970s, an era when people who couldn’t play instruments well were made fashionable by youthful rebellion.

Fagen also revealed in his tribute to the fallen star that they had common interests in things, including jazz bands, films, soul music and Chicago blues. He stated that Walter had a rough childhood. Rest in peace Walter, and you will be missed.
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