Michael McDonald Still Expects ‘Impostor Police’ at Any Moment

Michael McDonald said he still felt like an imposter, despite a decorated singing career spanning over five decades.

The 72-year-old publishes his memoir, What A Fool Believes, on May 21 via Dey Street Books. It’s co-written by comedian and actor Paul Reiser, who became a friend after the pair started performing piano duets together.

In a new interview with the New York Times, McDonald admitted he’d been wary of using the title of his 1978 hit for the book. “I wanted it to be something clever and mind-provoking,” he explained, “and I couldn’t really think of anything because, you know, I have a problem provoking my own mind.”

He also owned up to some discomfort in being associated with the yacht rock genre and oldies radio, saying: “Even though I was a little ambivalent about both at first, they turned out to be the two best things that ever happened to us from the ’70s,” he said, “because we kept getting airplay.”

Reiser said he’d been surprised at some of the stories of rock ’n’ roll excess that McDonald had kept to himself over the years. Referring to a Steely Dan party in a hotel penthouse in London, U.K., Reiser recalled: “I’m going, ‘That’s like a Fellini movie!”

Why Michael McDonald Sings With His Eyes Closed

Elsewhere he revealed why he’s usually seen with his eyes closed while performing. “Singing is such an intimate act,” he said, “and, like kissing, it does no real good to see what the other person is doing.”

On his feelings about having put his memories down on paper, McDonald said: “To this day I keep expecting the doors to fly open and the impostor police to come and grab me and take me out.”