Donald Fagen was originally one of the founders and core member of Steely Dan (along with Walter Becker) but following the band's breakup in 1981 after the release of Gaucho, Fagen turned to solo work.

Fagen penned a group of songs based on his experiences as a young man in 1950's America, and the resulting album, The Nightfly, was released in 1982, and is one of the first albums to be recorded entirely digitally. After a quiet time musically (he is reported to have suffered from writers block) for the rest of the 80s he returned in 1993 with Kamakiriad, which is a conceptual album based on a car journey. The album was produced by Walter Becker and represented the first collaboration between the two since Gaucho.

This collaboration reignited Steely Dan and they released two more albums in 2000 and 2003.

In 2006 Fagen released his third solo album Morph the Cat, which is partly based on old age and death, and was well received by fans.