Country Joe McDonald, Tommy DeCarlo, David Brigati, and Jennifer Runyon Die

These individuals were a singer, songwriter, musician and film composer, who was the lead singer for the group Country Joe and the Fish; a singer, who was the lead vocalist for the rock band Boston from 2007 on; a singer in the Hi-Fives, Starliters, and the Rascals; and was a movie/TV star known for Ghostbusters and Charles in Charge.

Joseph Allen “Country Joe” McDonald was born January 1, 1942, in Washington, D.C., and grew up in El Monte, California, the son of Worden McDonald, a telephone company worker, and Florence Plotnick, who later served on the Berkeley city council. As a teenager he developed a deep interest in music and leadership in school bands, and at age seventeen

enlisted in the United States Navy, serving for three years and spending part of that time stationed in Japan. After completing his military service he attended Los Angeles City College for a short time before immersing himself in the folk and protest music scene developing in Berkeley, California. In the early 1960s he performed on Telegraph Avenue and soon became a central figure in the countercultural music movement, co-founding the psychedelic rock band Country Joe and the Fish with guitarist Barry Melton.

The group became a prominent act of the San Francisco Sound and performed at major events such as the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and the Woodstock Festival in 1969, where McDonald famously led the crowd in the “Fish Cheer” and performed his anti-Vietnam War anthem “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag,”

which became one of the most recognizable protest songs of the era. In addition to his work with the band, he maintained a prolific solo career spanning more than thirty albums and appeared occasionally in film and television productions including Gas-s-s-s and More American Graffiti. McDonald was known not only for music but also for outspoken political activism and support of antiwar causes and veterans’ issues.

His personal life included several marriages; he married Kathe Werum in 1963, later marrying Robin Menken in 1968, with whom he had a daughter, Seven Anne McDonald, and he also had four other children—Devin, Tara, Emily, and Ryan—from later relationships.

Over decades of performing he remained a respected figure of the 1960s counterculture and folk-rock traditions. McDonald died on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at his home in Berkeley, California, at the age of eighty-four from complications of Parkinson’s disease, and he was survived by his children and extended family.

Tommy DeCarlo was born April 23, 1965, in Utica, New York, and grew up in a sports-loving family while developing an early passion for music, particularly the recordings of the rock band Boston. During his youth he sang in school choir and pursued athletics, even trying out for the Pittsburgh Pirates organization

before turning more seriously to music. DeCarlo was largely self-taught as a singer and musician and spent years performing locally while working regular jobs to support his family. By the 1990s he was recording cover versions of Boston songs, inspired by the soaring voice of the band’s original lead singer Brad Delp. In 2007, after Delp’s death, DeCarlo recorded a tribute song and posted it along with Boston covers on a MySpace page.

This gesture would unexpectedly change his life when Boston founder Tom Scholz heard the recordings and invited him to perform at a tribute concert in Delp’s honor. Soon afterward DeCarlo joined Boston as its touring lead vocalist, a role he held from 2007 until his death, helping keep the band active for nearly two decades and singing on the group’s 2013 album Life, Love & Hope.

His unlikely journey from devoted fan to frontman became widely known among rock fans, and he later recounted his story in the audiobook memoir Unlikely Rockstar – The Tommy DeCarlo Story. In addition to his work with Boston, he formed the band DeCarlo with his son, Tommy DeCarlo Jr., releasing the album Lightning Strikes Twice

in 2020 and continuing to perform live. DeCarlo had several children, including Annie, Talia, and Tommy Jr., and he was known for maintaining close family ties throughout his career. Diagnosed with brain cancer in September 2025, he battled the disease for several months before dying on Monday, March 9, 2026, in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the age of sixty, leaving behind his children, family members, and generations of fans who admired his improbable rise in rock music.

David Brigati was born October 29, 1940, in Passaic, New Jersey, and grew up in nearby Garfield in a musical Italian-American family that encouraged singing and performance. As a teenager he became involved in the doo-wop scene of the late 1950s and emerged as the lead singer of the vocal group the Hi-Fives, who recorded several songs for Decca Records, including the regional hit “Dorothy.” His growing reputation as a vocalist led Joey Dee to recruit him in 1958 to join the Starliters,

the group that soon became nationally famous as the house band at New York City’s Peppermint Lounge during the early 1960s twist-dance craze, scoring the international hit “Peppermint Twist.” Brigati sang lead on several early Starliters recordings before leaving the group in 1964.

His younger brother Eddie Brigati later joined Felix Cavaliere and Gene Cornish in forming the Young Rascals, and David became closely associated with the band as a studio singer and collaborator, sometimes being referred to by fans as “the fifth Rascal.” His voice can be heard on recordings such as the title track of the Rascals’ 1968

album Once Upon a Dream, and he continued to work behind the scenes as a vocalist and songwriter throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s. In later decades he reunited periodically with members of the Rascals and other musicians, including performances at reunion concerts and special events such as the band’s 1997 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Brigati also recorded with his brother on the album Lost in the Wilderness and contributed background vocals to other projects including recordings by the Average White Band. Though less widely known than some of his contemporaries, he remained a respected figure among fans of classic American soul and rock.

David Brigati died on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at the age of eighty-five, leaving behind his family, including his brother Eddie Brigati, and a legacy tied closely to the early history of the Rascals and the vibrant New York music scene of the 1960s.

Jennifer Runyon was born April 1, 1960, in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of radio announcer and disc jockey Jim Runyon and actress Jane Roberts, and she grew up surrounded by broadcasting and entertainment influences that helped spark her interest in acting. She pursued performing early in life and entered the film industry at the beginning of the 1980s,

making her feature-film debut in the 1980 slasher film To All a Goodnight. Runyon soon became a familiar face in television and film during the decade, appearing in comedies such as Up the Creek and the 1984 blockbuster Ghostbusters, in which she played a college student in one of the film’s memorable comedic scenes.

That same year she gained greater visibility on television when she starred as Gwendolyn Pierce in the first season of the CBS sitcom Charles in Charge. She continued acting in television throughout the 1980s, including portraying Cindy Brady in the 1988 reunion movie A Very Brady Christmas.

Runyon married basketball coach Todd Corman on March 9, 1991, and the couple had two children, a son named Wyatt and a daughter named Bayley. As her children grew older she gradually stepped away from regular acting work and later described herself as semi-retired from the

entertainment industry, focusing instead on teaching and other creative pursuits including co-hosting a cooking podcast. Her earlier screen performances nevertheless remained fondly remembered by fans of 1980s film and television. Jennifer Runyon died on Friday, March 6, 2026, at the age of sixty-five following a battle with cancer, and she was survived by her husband Todd Corman, their two children, and other family members.