If you are ranking your all time favorite soul singers, Michael McDonald has to be on that list, right? I mean, just look at the history. He started out in a rock band – The Doobie Brothers – I use the term rock band loosely because that rock had a funk bottom to it. Songs like Takin’ It To The Streets, Minute By Minute and What A Fool Believes, are classified as rock, but these are definitely soul performances.
If you like McDonald as the songwriter, he also had a few hits out during this time period. With Kenny Loggins, This Is It and What A Fool Believes were two big songs. He wrote You Belong To Me, along with Carly Simon. That track was recorded by several artists, including Chaka Khan and Anita Baker, in addition to the original by Carly Simon.
In the 1980’s, McDonald released some songs that were inspired by the decade. Although the grooves are dated, the performances are timeless.
He has also been an in-demand singer for the jazz instrumental artists. Some of the collaborations include So Very Hard To Go, with Summer Horns, Moondance with Nathan East.
Obviously we are only scratching the surface with all of the hits, but you can see the versatility here. I did not even mention the two Motown albums and the Soul Speak release.
McDonald will be on tour this summer, and on several of the dates he will be alongside Boz Scaggs.
Here are a few of the dates and cities:
June 14th – San Antonio, TX
June 17th – Kansas City, MO
July 8th – Atlantic City, NJ
August 8th – Saratoga, CA
You can see the full schedule here
