The Thrill Is Gone - 1950 - 2017

Guitar World pays tribute to Walter Becker, the Steely Dan legend responsible for such classic rock gems as “Do It Again,” “Reelin’ in the Years” and “Hey Nineteen”—and a most reluctant guitar hero.

- Alan Diperna

Reclusive, elusive and sardonically self-effacing, Walter Becker was not your typical guitar hero. He often shunned the limelight and kept mum about the details of his enormous contributions to the game-changing music of Steely Dan, his own solo recordings and the records he produced for other artists, such as Rickie Lee Jones, China Crisis and his longtime musical partner Donald Fagen. Becker died much as he had lived, slipping away quietly on the Sunday before Labor Day on the Hawaiian island of Maui, where he’d made his home for many years. He was 67 years old at the time of his passing.

The cause of his death was not given. But his die-hard fans knew something was amiss when Becker was unable to appear with Steely Dan for this summer’s Classic West and Classic East concerts, the blockbuster shows that teamed Steely Dan with fellow Seventies hit makers the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, the Doobie Brothers, Earth Wind & Fire and Journey. All that was said officially at that time was that Becker was recovering from “a procedure.”

If Becker was a guitar hero, he wasn’t the kind who said it all with his ax. He also contributed substantially to Steely Dan’s glib, evocative, sophisticated lyrics. An adept producer and arranger, he played a number of instruments besides the guitar. All of his musicality grew out of the innovative song craft he forged with Steely Dan vocalist/keyboardist Donald Fagen.