Ian McDonald: King Crimson and Foreigner co-founder dies age 75

Ian McDonald, a co-founder of two era-defining groups in prog band King Crimson and rock outfit Foreigner, has died age 75.

A representative said he had “passed away peacefully on 9 February in his home in New York City, surrounded by his family”. No cause of death was disclosed.

McDonald was part of the original lineup of King Crimson, who formed in 1967 in Dorset. A multi-instrumentalist, McDonald became the band’s primary composer. After a breakout support slot with the Rolling Stones in Hyde Park, London, on 5 July 1969, they released their debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King, in October of the same year.

It received critical acclaim and is now considered a classic. Pete Townshend of the Who called it an “uncanny masterpiece”. And Kanye West sampled McDonald’s instantly recognisable, swaggering saxophone from the song 21st Century Schizoid Man – originally recorded in a single take – on his 2010 single Power.

McDonald told Ultimate Classic Rock that he wasn’t surprised the album had held up for more than 50 years. “When we made it – and I was basically at the forefront of the production – I wanted to make sure everything that went into the record would bear repeated listening and hopefully stand the test of time.”

The band’s original lineup went their separate ways at the end of 1969, with McDonald and drummer Michael Giles diverging from the darker styles preferred by guitarist Robert Fripp. The departing pair released one album together, 1970’s McDonald and Giles, which reflected their poppier approach to prog.

McDonald briefly rejoined King Crimson in 1974 before Fripp put the band on hiatus – though he would play with Fripp again in the 50-strong prog-jazz group Centipede, led by British free jazz pianist Keith Tippett. In 2002, former members of King Crimson, minus Fripp, reformed as the 21st Century Schizoid Band.

McDonald formed Foreigner in 1976, alongside British guitarist Mick Jones (not the Clash guitarist) and US singer Lou Gramm. He appeared on the first three of their four consecutive five-times platinum-certified albums, but was sacked in 1980 as Jones sought greater control over the group.

“I wouldn’t have left,” McDonald told Big Bang magazine. “I loved the group, it was not my decision.” However, he occasionally played with the band at later reunion shows.

Between King Crimson and Foreigner, McDonald appeared on four of the biggest-selling albums of the period from 1969-79.

As a session musician, he performed on T-Rex’s 1971 single Get It On. He also collaborated with Fairport Convention co-founder Judy Dyble (who was also fleetingly a member of pre-fame King Crimson), Steve Hackett and Asia.

Related: King Crimson – 10 of the best

McDonald released his first solo album, Driver’s Eyes, in 1999, which featured contributions from Hackett and Peter Frampton. In 2017, he formed the band Honey West, which counted his son, Maxwell, among its members.

McDonald was born in 1946 in Osterley, Middlesex. He played guitar as a teenager and developed his musicianship while serving five years in the British army as a bandsman, where he learned clarinet, flute, saxophone and musical notation. His love of big band jazz evolved into a love of rock’n’roll, which, he told Billboard magazine in 2017, “didn’t seem like a great leap to me. There was a great energy there that appealed to me”.

Reflecting on his career to Billboard, he said: “I have trouble processing time in terms of years and weeks and months. I mean, it’s 40 years for Foreigner, almost 50 years for King Crimson – but it feels like milliseconds. It’s a lot of good work, though.”