Born: 12 February 1952
McDonald was born in Ferguson, a city which is part of the greater St Louis metropolitan area in Missouri. As a youngster he played in a number of local bands and began to get noticed. This led to him moving to Los Angeles in 1970 to pursue a music career. By 1974 he had found some work with Steely Dan as backing vocalist and sometimes doing lead vocals. He would work both on tour and on the band’s studio albums including ‘The Royal Scam’ and ‘Aja’. He would even re-join the band for its 2006 tour. In 1975 he landed a job with The Doobie Brothers and would work with them till about 1982. At the same time he provided backing vocals for acts such as Kenny Loggins, Toto and Christopher Cross. In 1982 he embarked on a solo career which saw 7 US Hot 100 hits with ‘On my Own’, his duet with Patti LaBelle reaching the top spot. He has seen 6 UK chart hits although this includes a 1987 re-release of ‘What A Fool Believes’ where he was given a separate credit alongside The Doobie Brothers and a re-mix of his hit ‘Sweet Freedom’ which was credited to Safri Duo ft Michael McDonald. ‘On My own’ would give him his best UK peak, going to number 2.
| Date of entry | Song | Peak (weeks at 1) | Weeks |
| 22-Jun-1986 | On My Own | 2 | 18 |
| Total hits | 1 | ||
| Total weeks | 18 |
| Biggest climber awards | 2 |
| Star rater climbs | 4 |
| Biggest fallers | 1 |
| Weeks with oldest in the charts | 0 |
| Longest run in the charts (weeks) | 18 |
| Weeks with more than 1 in the charts | 0 |
| Biggest gap between hits (weeks) | 0 |
| Top 30 points ranking | =512 |
| Top 20 points ranking | =487 |
| Top 30 points | 342 |
| Top 20 points | 179 |
McDonald sang backing vocals on the following hits:
| Song | Act | Peak (Weeks at 1) | Weeks |
| What A Fool Believes | Doobie Brothers | 7 | 13 |
| I’ll Be Over You | Toto | 10 | 16 |
| Total hits | 2 | ||
| Total weeks | 29 |
Total chart involvement:
| Total hits | 3 |
| Total weeks | 47 |
SA Singles Charts 