When Michael Goessling, 59, heard his biological father’s voice for the first time last year, he swore he recognized it.“I just said: ‘What a voice that guy has!’...it just sounded so familiar, but I couldn’t place it.”When they spoke over the phone that night, it clicked.“Finally, I just said: ‘Are you Michael McDonald?’” Goessling recalled.
“And he chuckled and he said, ‘Yeah, I’m afraid so.’”McDonald, a five-time Grammy winner who is lead vocalist of the Doobie Brothers and a successful solo artist, had a child in Missouri with his middle school sweetheart and neighbor when they were 14-years-old, Goessling told NBC News on Friday.The pair gave up the baby in a closed adoption to Goessling’s parents, who lived roughly 20 minutes away in a suburb of St.
Louis, and went their separate ways, Goessling said.Nearly 58 years later, they reached out to their son.In May, Goessling said he received a letter in the mail from his biological parents asking to make contact.
The 59-year-old said they tracked him down after one of Goessling’s half-brother’s found him through a 23andMe DNA test.Goessling said he spoke with his biological mother that night and suggested that they get lunch that Friday — a date which had sentimental value.“She became very emotional and said, ‘Your birthday.’ And I said ‘Yes, you’ve waited long enough.I’ve waited long enough.
Let’s meet on my birthday, 58 years to the day,’” he said.The pair met that Friday, and Goessling got a voice memo from his biological father that night.Goessling and McDonald spoke over the phone for the first time the following day.
Going into the call, Goessling said he knew only his father’s first name.“I said to Mike, ‘So hey, tell me, what do you do?’ And he said, ‘Well, I’m a musician.’ And I said, ‘That is awesome.I love music.
I’ve always been a music nut,’” Goessling said.For SubscribersFOR SUBSCRIBERS‘I am Jane Doe’: Cornell cas...