How Michael McDonald and Paul Reiser Teamed Up to Co-Write the Doobie Brother's New Memoir (Exclusive)

The legendary singer and the 'Mad About You' actor collaborated on McDonald’s forthcoming memoir 'What a Fool Believes'

One might think that Michael McDonald, a five-time Grammy winner and member of bands like the Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan, and Paul Reiser, the Emmy-nominated Mad About You actor, would make an unlikely writing duo. The two, however, recently teamed up for a particularly special project: McDonald’s memoir.

“Mike did the hard part,” Reiser, 67, tells PEOPLE. “He had to live the first 60, 70 years and then remember it. That was the challenge.”

“It was the challenge,” McDonald, 71, agrees.

What a Fool Believes, whose cover is revealed exclusively with PEOPLE, publishes next spring from Dey Street Books. The memoir details McDonald’s life and career, from his upbringing in Missouri to becoming an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Doobie Brothers. The book, named after the Doobie Brothers' Grammy-winning 1979 No. 1 single, will also tell of McDonald’s past drug and alcohol addiction, his insecurities and his ultimate journey toward becoming a music mainstay, both as a member of iconic bands and in his successful solo career.

“There's so many touchstones of music that he straddles, and there aren't a lot of people who have that kind of breadth of career,” Reiser says. “Along the way, Mike's personal story comes forward. So much of it is uniquely his, but even the parts that are uniquely his, I think, resonate with people.”

Reiser, known for his roles on sitcoms like Mad About You and My Two Dads, says that he initially started out as a fan of McDonald’s. When the two eventually met, their friendship incorporated music (they’ve played together, as Reiser is also a pianist) and conversations with one another.

“I sort of made a joke,” Reiser says. “Because I would periodically ask Mike questions I didn’t understand about the Doobies, about him, and I said, jokingly, ‘You should write a book so I don’t have to bother you all the time.’ And he jokingly said, ‘I’ve thought about it, but I don’t know how you start that.’ Given that we both had [an] enormous amount of time on our hands with nowhere to be [during the pandemic], we said, ‘Let's see how this goes.’”

McDonald and Reiser started working on the memoir in spring of 2020. What made the writing process so seamless, Reiser says, is that they went into it with no expectations, and didn’t talk about events in chronological order during their Zoom interviews. McDonald, who started writing from the transcripts, had some initial hesitancies about the project.

“The thing that was the most daunting was wondering if there ever even was a story there,” McDonald says. “Because my story really, I've always felt, existed more in the people I worked with. That was really basically my story. It wasn't really so much about me as my good fortune to work with a lot of different people.” Musicians he writes about in the memoir include James Taylor, Ray Charles and Carly Simon.

Related: James Taylor Recalls How the Beatles Gave Him His Big Break by Signing Him at Age 19

“But as we kind of moved along, the story emerged for me, and I think for the first time, I understood my own story a little better on a more personal level,” McDonald adds.

The writing process allowed McDonald to reflect on many facets of his life such as his relationships with other people.

“When it comes down to it, if that person hadn't been in my life and given me the opportunities that they did give me, no matter whether they had their hand in my pocket or not, I wouldn't be here writing this story today,” he says. He also looked back on many moments from his career when writing, like his first audition and tour with Steely Dan.

“Typically in the music business, you can almost bet that once you get that gig you never dreamed you'd get, it's not long before the band's going to break up,” he says. “No matter what gig you get, that no matter how great it is, something's going to blow it up. You'll always realize that over a span of time that you just have to be ready to look for the next door to open, and hopefully you'll be paying attention.”

Related: Steely Dan Shares New Vault Track — a Long-Lost Schlitz Beer Jingle

Reiser, who is the bestselling author of his own books, including Couplehood and Familyhood, says that being McDonald’s co-writer was also learning experience for him.

“This is the first thing I've done for which I wasn't the final end user,” he says. “That was a great process for me to realize, ‘Yeah, I might write this differently, but I'm not writing it. It's Mike's story.’ And I go, ‘Well, what if we say it like this?’ I go, ‘No, that's not how Mike would say it.’”

Their partnership is nonetheless built on mutual respect for one another.

“My favorite Doobie Brother tracks were invariably Michael's tracks,” Reiser says. “'I Can Let Go Now' [one of McDonald’s solo songs, from his 1982 album If That's What It Takes] just buckles my knees. It’s just a gorgeous song and a beautiful vocal performance.”

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Reiser also realized during the writing process that his appreciation of McDonald’s music extended further than he thought.

“During the process of this book, [my family] moved,” he says. “We moved, and I was unearthing boxes of stuff, and I found in my music room, with all my classical piano music, I found the one and only sheet music that I had ever bought, which was ‘What a Fool Believes.’ I can play by ear pretty well, and I could never figure that song out.’”

While McDonald says his favorite projects of Reiser’s are “basically all of them,” working on the memoir allowed him to see his friend’s work in a new way.

Related: Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser Had Regular Lunch Dates After 'Mad About You' Ended 20 Years Ago

“What I really learned, I think, on this project, is the discipline that it takes to be the kind of writer, producer and person that Paul is professionally,” he says. “This is probably his single most hardest project. I was just being [dragged] along. He was walking backwards trying to coax me down the road. So I was amazed at the diligence and the amount of work it really takes to do what he does.”

As for what the future holds for the McDonald and Reiser partnership, the two have a few ideas in mind. A Broadway musical is one possibility.

“We're writing a song together,” Reiser says. “We have a lot of overlap in the music that we both love. So we've thrown silly, half-baked ideas about doing stuff together, and we'll see. It’ll probably be a lot easier and quicker than writing a book. Well, actually, Mike has stories about songs that would take years to start.”

Adds McDonald: “The songs that take years are not typical songwriter's experiences. Those are pretty much unique to me. I'm the only person I know that takes years to write a song.”

What a Fool Believes will be published on May 21, 2024.

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