Bruce Barthol (November 11, 1947 – February 20, 2023) was an American musician, singer and songwriter. Born at Alta Bates Hospital,

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

, he was the original

bass player A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low br ...

for the psychedelic rock band Country Joe and the Fish, from its inception through November 1968. Staying on in England after a European tour eventually led to the formation of Formerly Fat Harry with Gary Peterson and fellow Berkeley native, and one time denizen of The Jabberwock, Phil Greenberg. Upon his return to the Bay Area in 1972, Barthol formed Energy Crisis with some ex-members of the Cleanliness and Godliness Skiffle Band before becoming the musical director for the Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe in 1976. From 2004 to 2006, Barthol joined ex-Country Joe and the Fish members Joe McDonald,

David Bennett Cohen David Bennett Cohen (born August 4, 1942) is an American musician best known as the original keyboardist and one of the guitar players for the late-1960s psychedelic rock and blues band Country Joe and the Fish. Early life and influences ...

and Chicken Hirsh for a number of short tours of the United States and the UK. Retirement from the San Francisco Mime Troupe came in 2009 together with the release with an acclaimed solo album ''The Decline and Fall of Everything''. He has also written for the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival and the Oberlin Dance Company. Barthol was also the bass player with the Former Members who include Greg Douglass, Roy Blumenfeld and

in their line-up. He held an MFA in Musical Theater from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

. Barthol died in hospice care in Sebastopol, California, on February 20, 2023, at the age of 75.

Sources

''Country Joe's Place''

References

External links

* * 1947 births 2023 deaths American musical theatre composers American rock bass guitarists American musical theatre lyricists Musicians from Berkeley, California Country Joe and the Fish members Songwriters from California Guitarists from California American male bass guitarists 20th-century American bass guitarists Classical musicians from California 20th-century American male musicians American male songwriters {{US-bass-guitarist-stub