Overview
- An official statement said McDonald died March 7 in Berkeley at age 84, was surrounded by family, and the family requested privacy.
- He co-founded Country Joe and the Fish and wrote the anti–Vietnam War anthem “I‑Feel‑Like‑I’m‑Fixin’‑to‑Die Rag,” a defining song of the 1960s counterculture.
- His 1969 Woodstock appearance, including the crowd-led “Fish Cheer” that spelled out an expletive, became a signature moment and had earlier prompted a lewd-behavior charge in Massachusetts.
- Across a decades-long career, he released dozens of records—commonly cited as roughly 30 to 40 albums—and sustained activism, notably organizing on behalf of Vietnam veterans and supporting environmental causes.
- Born in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 1, 1942, he grew up in El Monte, California, served three years in the U.S. Navy, and later settled in the Bay Area, where his music and political engagement took root.