Overview
- Michael Goessling, a St. Louis man adopted as an infant, learned this year that his biological father is Doobie Brothers singer Michael McDonald after a half‑sibling took a 23andMe test and received a match within about 36 hours.
- Goessling met his birth mother in person on his 58th birthday and then spoke by phone with McDonald, who mentioned a St. Louis tour stop that helped Goessling confirm his identity.
- The men later met face to face and embraced, with both describing the encounter as emotional and McDonald saying he felt relief and gratitude that his son had a good life.
- McDonald and Goessling’s birth parents were about 14 when Goessling was conceived and placed in a closed adoption processed through charities, and McDonald said he had long carried guilt over not knowing what happened to the child.
- The reunion highlights how consumer DNA testing can reconnect relatives decades after closed adoptions, and it changes both families’ lives now that McDonald has learned he is a grandfather.