Don Edward Fagenson, aka Don Was, is a Detroit native, a creative musician, a Grammy-award winning producer, and now a label head.

He might not be as well known to the Joe Sixpack as Rick Rubin, Benny Blanco, or DJ Khalid, but unlike those successful men, he can play.

And like most very talented people, he cannot fit in a box. As you will soon see.

Don first came to the public spotlight in the 1980s with his band Was (Not Was) which released four records and had a funky hit single in 1988's What Up, Dog? with "Walk The Dinosaur" - which was covered decades later by Queen Latifah for the third installment of the Ice Age animated films.

But the star of that album, for me, at least, was not the tune that made it to #1 on the US Dance Club chart, "Spy in the House of Love," but the terrifying "Dad I'm in Jail."

Big time artists must have also loved that album and how diverse and complicated it was because that very next year he began producing some of the biggest and best names in music.

Check out a few of the legends he produced over this five year span: Bonnie Raitt's Nick of Time ('89); The B-52's Cosmic Thing, namely "Love Shack" ('89); Iggy Pop ('90); Bob Dylan ('90); Elton John ('90); Bonnie Raitt's 7x platinum Luck of the Draw ('91); Bob Seger ('91); Ringo Starr ('92); Roy Orbison ('92); Willie Nelson ('93); David Crosby ('93); and the Rolling Stones' Voodoo Lounge in 1994.

Speaking of the Stones, in 1995 he produced their live album Stripped and even played a little organ for the lads.

Was would go on to produce five more albums by the Stones including their most recent one, Hackney Diamonds.

Is he any good at producing? Ask Bonnie Raitt who in 1990 won Album of the Year with him at the dials with Nick of Time.

That win was no shoe-in, in fact most thought Bonnie's record was the longest shot in the field. Look at these fellow nominees:

Traveling Wilburys, Fine Young Cannibals, Don Henley (The End of the Innocence), and Tom Petty (Full Moon Fever).

In 2011 he was named the President of Blue Note Records, the iconic 85-year-old jazz label that gave the world John Coltrane's Blue Train, Art Blakey's Moanin', Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage, and so much more.

Years before he was handed the keys to the label, he put together people like Hancock, Merle Haggard, the MC5's Wayne Kramer, Sheile E. and many others to make Orquestra Was, an eclectic approach at jazz on an album called Forever's a Long, Long Time.

But Deadheads may know Don from his work on bass alongside guitarist Bob Weir and RatDog drummer Jay Lane. They are Wolf Bros.

In a lot of way it's a kinder, gentler, Grateful Dead, when you want to hear those tunes like "Jack Straw," "Ripple" and "Truckin'" in the backyard without anyone actually stealing your face.

So hats off to Don Was. No matter the vibe, he's either made the music or played the music or both, and we're grateful.

Bobby and the Wolf Bros are hitting the road in November for five shows alongside some symphony orchestras. First in Cincinnati, then Chicago then New Orleans.

Get your tickets via Bob's website.