Ian McDonald (musician)

Ian McDonald 2009

Ian McDonald (born June 25, 1946 in London , England ) is a British musician and multi-instrumentalist. His musical talent ranges from classical to dance music to rock 'n' roll .

McDonald had five years in a military band of the British Army played before with 1969 Robert Fripp , Greg Lake , Michael Giles and Peter Sinfield the progressive rock - band King Crimson founded. The band's influential debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King , was decisively shaped by McDonald as a musician and songwriter. Because of musical differences, he and Giles left the group and released the album McDonald & Giles . In 1974, McDonald briefly returned to King Crimson, initially as a guest musician on the album Red ; However, there was no planned re-entry because Fripp broke up the band for the time being after the album was released.

From 1976 McDonald was a member / founder of Foreigner , on whose first three albums he participated. The best known piece in Germany from this phase of the band was the single Cold as Ice . In addition, McDonald worked as a producer and studio musician and is z. E.g. in the hit Get It On by T. Rex . In 1999 he released the solo album Drivers Eyes with several celebrity guests, including his ex-bandmates Michael Giles and Lou Gramm . He also contributed a total of 3 songs to the soundtrack of the video game " Wachenröder ", which was only released in Japan in 1998 : Day Dream , Catastrophe and Blind Girl .

The 1997 4-CD set Epitaph, with rare live recordings by the 1969 cast of King Crimson, aroused broad public interest in early Crimson material. Then the 21st Century Schizoid Band was founded in 2002 and several tours and live albums followed. In addition to McDonald ( saxophone , flute , keyboards ), the former King Crimson members Michael Giles ( drums , percussion ), Peter Giles ( electric bass ), Mel Collins ( alto / tenor saxophone , flute, keyboards) and Jakko play in the band Jakszyk from Level 42 ( guitar , vocals). After the first tour, Michael Giles was replaced by former King Crimson drummer Ian Wallace.

Web links

• King Crimson Biography. In: 119 lenin imports. February 2, 2000, archived from the original on April 12, 2019 . 
• Ian McDonald. In: Camino Records. Archived from the original on February 5, 2002 .