Country Joe and the Fish frontman Country Joe McDonald, who rose to fame when performing at Woodstock, has died aged 84.
The singer, born Joseph Allen McDonald, died of Parkinson’s in Berkeley, California. In a statement shared on his band’s social media, they announced: ‘We are deeply saddened to report the passing of Country Joe McDonald, who died yesterday, March 7th, at the age of 84, in Berkeley, California, due to complications from Parkinson’s disease.’
‘He was surrounded by his family, and the news has been confirmed by Best Classic Bands, as well as the McDonald family. At this time, the McDonald Family requests privacy during this very difficult period,’ the statement concluded.
The musician was best known for the song I- Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag, which was a Vietnam War protest track he performed at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.
That performance also included his infamous call-and-response ‘Fish Cheer’, which had the audience spelling out the F-word at McDonald’s request.
Born in Washington, D.C, in 1942, McDonald then grew up in El Monte, California, before joining the Navy as a teenager.
After serving from 1959 until 1962, he returned to Los Angeles to attend state college, later moving to the San Francisco Bay area.
It was there, in 1965, that he co-founded Country Joe and the Fish with guitarist Barry Melton in Berkeley. The pair had met at a folk festival at the University of California.
The band released its debut album, Electric Music for the Mind and Body, in 1967 – however it did not include their two famous protest songs out of fear of censorship.
But it did feature the song Superbird, which took aim at President Lyndon Johnson.
McDonald once reflected on his most famous protest song, telling the Street Spirit website: ‘The important thing about the Fixin’ to Die Rag was that it had a new point of view that did not blame soldiers for war.
‘It just blamed the politicians, and it blamed the manufacturers of weapons. It didn’t blame the soldiers.
‘Someone who was in the military could sing the song, and the attitude is, “Whoopee, we’re all going to die”. Most peace songs of the era blamed the soldiers for the war.’
Although Country Joe and the Fish disbanded in 1971, McDonald went on to write other songs addressing environmental issues and civil rights.
Throughout his solo career he released nearly 40 albums, the last being released in 2017.
Speaking about that album – 50 – he said in 2016 that he was floored realising he’d been in the music industry for five decades.
‘I find the concept of 50 years incomprehensible. But it’s indisputable because I have children and some of those children have children and I know that the math is right. And I just finished an album and the title of it is 50 because it’s 50 years since the first album. I didn’t die, so there you are. I’m still alive and I’m still doing something. Filling a need helps a lot, and it keeps me sane,’ he said.
As an actor, McDonald also starred in 1970’s Gas-s-s-s-s, appeared in the 971 Don Johnson film Zachariah and played himself with Country Joe & The Fish in More American Graffiti in 1979. He also played Joaquin in the 1993 adaptation of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City.
McDonald is survived by his wife Kathy. While he largely kept his private life out of the spotlight, he had previously spoken about having five children.
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