Steely Dan has been releasing music since 1972 when they first came out with the album “Can’t Buy a Thrill” which became incredibly popular. Since their first album they have experienced a tremendous amount of success, creating a number of hit singles which includes “Do it Again” as well as “Reelin’ in the Years”. Although Fagen did a majority of the vocals in the studio, David Palmer handled most of the live performances due to the fact that Fagen was too stage-shy when it came to singing. Members of Steely Dan eventually convinced Fagen that fans wanted to hear him sing on stage and he ended up coming out of his shell to perform in front of small audiences at first and then more and more as time passed.

After Fagen started taking over as the lead vocalist of the band on stage and in the studio, their career really started to take off. Palmer eventually ended up leaving the band in pursuit of other musical projects, not feeling needed by the band any longer. Somewhere down the line Palmer crossed paths with Carole King and began to play music with her, creating Jazzman. When the band put out “Countdown to Ecstasy”, Denny Dias was responsible for the position of rhythm guitar and they once again managed to increase and strengthen their already large fan base, solidifying their place in the music industry at the time.