Ian McDonald “Foreigner Co-Founder” Funeral & Tributes | Try Not To Cry 😭 😭

Ian McDonald, King Crimson and Foreigner Co-Founder, passed on at the age of 75.

Ian a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter best known for his co-founding roles in both King Crimson and Foreigner, died Wednesday at the age of 75.

A representative for McDonald confirmed the musician’s death, adding that McDonald “passed away peacefully on February 9, 2022 in his home in New York City, surrounded by his family.” His son reported on Facebook that the cause was natural death.

McDonald was known as one of the key architects of progressive rock, playing both saxophone and keyboards in King Crimson and co-writing its iconic 1969 debut, In the Court of the Crimson King.

The record’s opening track, “21st Century Schizoid Man,” featured McDonald’s wild double-tracked alto-sax solo, which he performed the same year at a famous concert in London’s Hyde Park.

He left King Crimson before the year was over, moving on to a duo project with Crimson drummer Michael Giles.

He would also appear as a session musician on King Crimson’s 1975 classic, Red.

Later, McDonald co-founded rock outfit Foreigner with guitarist Mick Jones, playing various instruments and singing on their first three LPs — all of which cracked the Top 10.

McDonald also performed as a session saxist on T. Rex’s classic 1971 album, Electric Warrior, and later reunited with part of the original Crimson lineup as a member of the 21st Century Schizoid Band. His final major project was the rootsy rock band Honey West.

Ian McDonald was born in Osterley, Middlesex, in England, in 1946.

He served for five years in the British Army, playing in a jazz band and also collaborated with the group Giles and Fripp — an early project featuring fellow Crimson co-founders Robert Fripp and Michael Giles that planted the seeds for King Crimson.

His jazz sensibility was key to the early King Crimson sound. A piece that he wrote for the army band called “Three Score and Four” would turn into the midsection of “21st Century Schizoid Man.”

“I was very into things like Stan Kenton and these kind of big bands at the time,” McDonald told Media in 2015. “I was still in the Army. I wrote this piece called ‘Three Score and Four,’ and we put it into ‘Schizoid Man’ there. That whole section is mine that I lifted from that score that I had written.”

He also helped fill out the song’s iconic doomy opening riff. One day, at the band’s rehearsal space in the basement of London’s Fulham Palace Cafe, singer-bassist Greg Lake played the first half and McDonald added the rest.

McDonald’s sax solo made a huge impression at the Hyde Park gig.

“The high point of that gig was the whole audience rising to their feet as one and cheering Ian McDonald’s solo during ‘Schizoid,’” Crimson roadie Richard “Vick” Vickers told band biographer Sid Smith. “I remember the hairs on the back of my neck rising as the roar from this huge crowd went up.”

The band embarked on a successful tour in late 1969, honing a daring, improv-driven live show.

But McDonald and drummer Michael Giles quickly decided to part ways with the band. “I was probably not emotionally mature enough to handle it and I just made a rather rash decision to leave without consulting anyone,” McDonald told Sid Smith.

In later years, McDonald remained especially proud of his role in original King Crimson lineup. “We were a good band, what can I say?” he told reporters in 2019.

“It was really interesting music, and the live shows were a lot of fun. The improvisations, we just used to go off in really weird places and we’d support each other… We trusted each other.”

Rest in power King McDonald.

[ginny]

Thanks for the information you shared but we can read all the information you shared for ourselves simply because I can't understand some of the words you are saying. While it is sad he passed away and many will deal with his passing in our own ways. No I am not mean or cruel, I am just real. Might want to find another to speak so we can better understand.

[janineshaner]

Um can we get a narrator with maybe a tad less accent?