Ian McDonald
Modest maestro of King Crimson and Foreigner BORN 1946 Ian McDonald, composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist, pioneered not one but two music genres. First he was a key creator of In The Court Of The Crimson King, the most influential album in progressive rock, then seven years on he co-founded Foreigner, whose multi-platinum AOR spawned multiple imitators. McDonald learnt his trade over five years as a British Army bandsman. By the time he hooked up with the struggling pop trio of Giles, Giles and Fripp in London to form King Crimson, he played various reeds and woodwinds as well as guitar, vibes and keyboards. But when Crimson’s debut album became an overnight sensation in 1969, McDonald, a self-effacing and modest man, struggled to cope with the pressure and swiftly quit. He recorded McDonald And Giles with fellow Crimson exile Michael Giles on drums, offering a lighter contrast to KC’s gothic anthems. The album was not a commercial success and McDonald played sessions – the saxophone solo on T. Rex’s Get It On is his. When talk of rejoining a later version of King Crimson in 1974 stalled, McDonald helped to start Foreigner and played on three albums featuring such radio staples as Cold As Ice and Feels Like The First Time. “I just contribute to whatever situation I’m in and really it’s all the same to me,” he once said. McDonald later toured with Steve Hackett, made the solo album Drivers Eyes and joined Honey West, a guitar band in his adopted Manhattan home. For many years McDonald said that he regretted leaving King Crimson – a hasty decision that guitarist Robert Fripp said “broke my heart.” A second Crimson album with Fripp and McDonald together is one of the great ‘what-ifs’ of rock history. But more recently, McDonald came to terms with his departure, saying it had allowed him to explore the other musical opportunities that made up his rich musical life.
IAN McDONALD “I contribute to whatever situation I’m in, it’s all the same to me.”