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View all search resultsSteely Dan co-founder, Walter Becker, dead at 67
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Guitar Hero: Walter Becker performs of Steely Dan onstage at Beacon Theatre on Oct. 10, 2015 in New York City. (Agence France -Presse/Santiago Felipe)
Walter Backer, guitarist, bassist and co-founder of American rock band Steely Dan, passed away on Sunday at the age of 67.
Becker's official website broke the news Sunday night without providing much details about the cause of death.
Becker founded the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted and Grammy-winning band with his friend Donald Fagen in 1972 and had enjoyed critical and commercial success with albums like Can't Buy A Thrill, Pretzel Logic and the jazz-infused masterpiece Aja.
Billboard magazine reported that Becker missed Steely Dan's Classic East and West concerts in July as he recovered from an unspecified ailment.
"Walter's recovering from a procedure and hopefully he'll be fine very soon," bandmate Fagen told the magazine.
Becker and Fagen first became collaborators when they were both students at New York's Bard College. After working as songwriters and members of backing band to Jay and the Americans, the duo moved to California in the early Seventies to form Steely Dan – named after a sex toy in William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch – alongside guitarists Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and Denny Dias, drummer Jim Hodder and singer David Palmer.
The duo was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2001, one year after the release of their album Two Against Nature, which won Grammy Award for album of the year.
