BECKER WAS ‘SMART AS A WHIP’
Walter Becker, the guitarist, bassist and co-founder of the 1970s rock group Steely Dan, which sold more than 40 million albums and produced such hit singles as Reelin’ In the Years, Rikki Don’t Lose that Number and Deacon Blues died Sunday. He was 67.
His official website announced his death with no further details. Donald Fagen said in a statement that his Steely Dan bandmate was not only “an excellent guitarist and a great songwriter” but also “smart as a whip,” “hysterically funny” and “cynical about human nature, including his own.”
“I intend to keep the music we created together alive as long as I can with the Steely Dan band,” Fagen wrote.
Musicians were quick to mourn Becker on social media Sunday. Both Ryan Adams and the band The Mountain Goats tweeted that Becker changed their lives.