Woodstock legend and anti-war activist Joe McDonald dead at 84

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Joe McDonald, lead singer and songwriter of Country Joe and the Fish — the band known for its resounding anti-war chant at Woodstock — has died.He was 84.His wife, Kathy McDonald, announced his death Sunday morning.

He died Saturday in his Berkeley home due to complications from Parkinson’s disease.As a formative member of the American counterculture in the 1960s and ‘70s, McDonald leaves a legacy of bridging contemporary political satire and brazen anti-war sentiments with the early sounds of acid rock.“We’re just so proud of him.He’s our hero.

He instilled in us that we have to speak up when we can, on whatever platform we can, about issues that we feel are important,” said his daughter Seven McDonald, a film producer, music manager and writer.“While he was a very serious, earnest activist, he also had such an acute sense of cynical humor that is so fantastic and was capable of scathing satire,” her brother Devin added.“He’s most famous for that, but he also did so many heartfelt benefits for different causes.”The siblings, who spent their childhoods on the road and in recording studios with him, joke that he was always doing a benefit show.The musician was born on Jan.

1, 1942, in Washington to Worden McDonald and activist Florence (Plotnik) McDonald, who were both members of the Communist Party.The family soon moved to the Southern California city of El Monte, where Joe McDonald was raised.His musical roots reach back to when his father taught him to play the guitar at 7 years old.

But before embarking on his career in music, McDonald enlisted in the Navy at age 17.He served as an air traffic controller at the Atsugi, Japan, air facility for three years.

Upon coming back to the states, he tried out college for a short time before dropping out and moving to Berkeley.Before experimenting with an early variation of Country Joe and the Fish alon...