Donald Fagen/Walter Becker

After Steely Dan's breakup in 1981, Fagen released his critically acclaimed solo debut album, The Nightfly, in October 1982. It reached #11 on the Billboard album chart and was certified Platinum for sales of over a million copies in the United States. Its premiere single was "I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World)". The song hit the Adult Contemporary Top 10 and peaked at #26 on the Billboard Hot 100. The follow-up single, "New Frontier" peaked at #34 AC and #70 Pop and was aided by a popular MTV music video. The Nightfly was nominated for several Grammy Awards including Album of the Year. It was significantly more jazz-based than Fagen's Steely Dan work. Rhino Records released a special DVD Audio version of The Nightfly in honor of the album's 20th anniversary in 2002.

Fagen's second solo album, 1993's Kamakiriad, was produced by Becker. It climbed into Billboard's Top 10 but sold fewer copies than The Nightfly, topping off at 900,000 in sales. Kamakiriad was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

Recording sessions for Fagen's third solo album, Morph the Cat, began in August 2004 and the album was released March 14, 2006. Performing on the album are Wayne Krantz(guitar), Jon Herington (guitar), Keith Carlock (drums), Freddy Washington (bass), Ted Baker (piano), and Walt Weiskopf (sax). Upon its release, Morph the Cat received universal acclaim^{[citation needed]} and was later named Album of the Year by Mix magazine. Fagen was also given 'Producer of the Year' award.^{[citation needed]}The 5.1 mix of Morph the Cat won the 2007 Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album.^[12]

All three of Fagen's albums previously released on the DVDA format have now been released in Warner's latest format MVI (Music Video Interactive) as a boxed set. Each album features a DTS 5.1, Dolby 5.1 and PCM Stereo mix but no MLP encoded track, along with bonus audio and video content. Customers will also be able to select any track or any portion of a track and use it as their mobile phone ringtone.

To support Morph the Cat, Fagen embarked on his first solo tour, and played dates across the US, with one date in Canada. Fagen's management also sold VIP packages for the tour, which included a pre-show party, premium seats and access to the band's sound checks. This was mocked on his song-writing partner Walter Becker's website.^[13] Fagen joined Becker for a Steely Dan/Michael McDonald tour the following summer of 2007.

He also toured with the New York Rock and Soul Revue. The 1986 debut album by Rosie Vela, Zazu, inspired the first collaboration between Fagen and Becker following the disbanding of Steely Dan.^[14] This led to their reunion as a writing team and the creation of a new touring version of Steely Dan. The following year Fagen co-produced Becker's solo debut, 11 Tracks of Whack.

In the spring of 2010, Fagen stated plans to record a fourth solo album which will be lighter in tone and not an extension of the Nightfly trilogy,^[15] anticipating a 2012 release.^[16] On August 13, 2012, the album title was revealed to be Sunken Condos and the release date October 16.^[17]

In 2012, Fagen also started a second tour with The Dukes of September Rhythm Revue, which included Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs.