Born Joseph McDonald on January 1, 1942, in Washington, D.C., the singer, songwriter, and musician is better known as Country Joe McDonald, who first came to prominence as the leader of iconic psychedelic rock band Country Joe & the Fish. Joe McDonald grew up in El Monte, California and played in his high school marching band. He enlisted in the US Navy at the age of 17 and spent most of his time stationed in Japan. Once he left the Navy, he attended Los Angeles City College before relocating to Berkeley, California and busking on Telegraph Avenue. In 1965, he co-founded psych rock band Country Joe & the Fish alongside Barry ‘The Fish’ Melton. The group’s debut album, Electric Music for the Mind and Body (1967), reached number 39 on the Billboard 200. Their second album, I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die (1967), only made number 67 on the Billboard 200 but the album’s anti-Vietnam anthem - “The ‘Fish’ Cheer/ I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag” – became part of pop culture when the group performed it at Woodstock on August 17, 1969. Country Joe McDonald recorded albums without the Fish, beginning with 1969’s Thinking of Woody Guthrie. The group broke up in 1970 and Country Joe McDonald carried on with a solo career, although he only achieved moderate success. Country Joe & the Fish reunited in 1977 for the album Reunion, but they split soon after. Country Joe McDonald has continued to release albums and perform solo and with the Country Joe Band, where he revisits the music of Country Joe & the Fish. He remained an activist—anti-war, anti-nuclear, and committed to the protection of nature. Among his other notable solo relases are Hold On - It's Coming (1971), War War War (1971), Paris Sessions (1973), Country Joe (1974), and Pacific with an Ocean View, which includes the song “Save the Whales!.” He continued to perform and record in the decades that followed. His final solo releases were Time Flies By (2012) and 50 (2017). Joe McDonald died of complications from Parkinson's disease on March 7, 2026, at the age of 84.
