The Real Rock Stars: A Son, His Birth Parents, and the Family Who Raised Him

Nearly six decades after a closed adoption, a St. Louis man met the birth parents he'd never known. One of them was Michael McDonald.

Photo: Linda Goessling / San Francisco Chronicle. Michael Goessling (right) reunites with Michael McDonald.

When Michael Goessling first heard his birth father's voice, it sounded oddly familiar. On the phone that night, he finally asked: "Are you Michael McDonald?"

"Yeah, I'm afraid so," came the answer, with a chuckle.

That is how a St. Louis man learned his biological father is the five-time Grammy winner and longtime voice of the Doobie Brothers, a band Goessling had loved since he was a boy.

The heart of this story, though, is quieter than the headline.

A choice made young

In the mid-1960s, McDonald and his middle-school sweetheart, a neighbor, were both 14 when she became pregnant. Their baby was placed in a closed adoption with Paul and Kay Goessling, who lived about 20 minutes away and raised him in St. Louis.

The two teenagers went their separate ways but stayed good friends through the years, and they never stopped wondering about their son. "We always talked about him," McDonald told KMOV. "And it always came down to our greatest fear was, how did life treat him?"

Goessling always knew he was adopted. "Had a wonderful childhood," he said. "I could not pick two finer folks to raise me."

Then, in May 2025, a half-brother he didn't know he had took a 23andMe DNA test. The match came back: Michael Goessling, St. Louis. His birth parents wrote to him. He later learned they had tried before, with letters that never reached him.

When he spoke with his birth mother, Goessling suggested lunch that Friday. It was his birthday. "You've waited long enough. I've waited long enough," he told her. "Let's meet on my birthday, 58 years to the day."

A phone call with his birth father followed, and later a meeting in person. "He put his arms out, gave me a big old bear hug and told me he loved me, and I told him the same,"

Goessling said. His adoptive family supported the reunion, and the night before McDonald's St. Louis concert, the whole family gathered for the first time.

Honor in every direction

What stays with you is how much gratitude runs through every side of this family.

McDonald says he carried guilt for years. But learning that his son "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." And he is clear about who deserves the credit: "The real rock stars in this story are his adoptive parents."

Goessling, in turn, honors the two 14-year-olds who made a hard decision. "I just wanted to thank them for the choices they made on my behalf and for giving me a shot in this world," he told NBC News. "They were always heroes in my story."

Not every adoption leads to a reunion, and adoption is not the right path for every woman. But this family's story is a gentle reminder that adoption can be a loving plan, one a child may grow up deeply thankful for.

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