Adopted Man Discovers His Father is a Rock Legend

A Missouri man who spent nearly six decades wondering about his biological family finally got the answer — and it turned out his father was a music legend he had heard on the radio for years.

Michael Goessling, who was adopted as an infant and raised in St. Louis, discovered that his biological father is Michael McDonald, the unmistakable voice behind some of The Doobie Brothers’ biggest hits and one of the best-known singers of the yacht-rock era.

The remarkable family reunion began not with a private investigator or dusty adoption records, but with a consumer DNA test.

Goessling said he always knew he had been adopted. His biological mother became pregnant when she and McDonald were both just 14 years old, and the baby was ultimately placed for adoption.

He was raised by Paul and Kay Goessling in St. Louis and said he could not have asked for better parents.

“I could not pick two finer folks to raise me,” Goessling told First Alert 4 while describing what he called a wonderful childhood.

Still, questions about where he came from never completely disappeared.

Those questions finally began getting answers after a half-brother Goessling never knew existed took a 23andMe DNA test.

The results revealed an unexpected close-family match.

“Within 36 hours, he got an email notifying him: Michael Goessling, half-brother, St. Louis,” Goessling recalled. “And that’s how this all began.”

The discovery eventually led Goessling to his birth mother, whom he met in person on his 58th birthday.

But another surprise was still waiting.

Goessling later spoke with his biological father by phone. During the conversation, the man casually mentioned that he was a musician preparing to come through St. Louis on tour.

That detail apparently made everything click.

“I said, ‘Are you Michael McDonald?’” Goessling recalled.

His father answered, “Yeah, I’m afraid so.”

It was Michael McDonald — the singer, songwriter and keyboardist whose distinctive voice helped define a major chapter of The Doobie Brothers’ career.

McDonald joined the band in the 1970s and became closely associated with songs including “What a Fool Believes,” “Minute by Minute” and “Takin’ It to the Streets.” He also went on to build a successful solo career with songs including “I Keep Forgettin’.”

The Recording Academy credits McDonald with five Grammy wins and 15 nominations during his career. “What a Fool Believes,” which he co-wrote with Kenny Loggins, won Song of the Year at the 1980 Grammy Awards, while The Doobie Brothers’ recording also won Record of the Year.

For McDonald, however, reconnecting with Goessling was about something far more personal than music.

He said he and Goessling’s biological mother remained friends over the years and never stopped wondering what had happened to the child they had given up when they were teenagers.

“We always talked about him,” McDonald said. “And it always came down to our greatest fear was, how did life treat him?”

McDonald acknowledged that he had carried guilt over the adoption for decades.

Learning that his son had grown up in a loving home brought an enormous sense of relief.

“To know that he was okay and that he had a good life, and a life certainly that I wouldn’t have been able to afford him at that time, was a great reward,” McDonald said.

He then gave much of the credit to the couple who raised Goessling.

“The real rock stars in this story are his adoptive parents.”

Father and son eventually met face-to-face.

Goessling said the first meeting immediately became emotional.

“When he first saw me, he put his arms out, gave me a big old bear hug and told me he loved me, and I told him the same,” he recalled.

There was another amusing coincidence in the reunion: both men are named Michael.

Goessling said that apparently had nothing to do with his biological father. His adoptive parents simply happened to give him the same first name.

The discovery also suddenly expanded McDonald’s family.

McDonald has been married to singer Amy Holland since 1983 and has children from that marriage. Through Goessling, he also learned that he was a grandfather.

The singer joked that he was “still wrapping my head” around the news.

But he appears to have embraced the newly discovered branch of the family.

“My daughter-in-law is just the daughter-in-law you’d hope for,” McDonald said. “And the kids are two of the greatest kids you’d ever meet. I’m just so proud of them.”

For Goessling, a DNA match that initially revealed an unknown half-brother ultimately answered the question he had carried for most of his life.

And for McDonald, the reunion finally answered a question he had been carrying just as long: whether the son he gave up as a frightened 14-year-old had grown up safe and loved.