Dave Peverett 2/2000

February 7, 2000 – David Jack “Dave” Peverett aka Lonesome Dave (Foghat) was born April 16, 1943 in Dulwich, South East London.

In the formative pre-Beatles early Sixties, he was the vocalist and lead guitarist of The Nocturnes, which included his brother John Peverett  (later to be Rod Stewart’s road manager, before becoming a Baptist pastor in the USA) on drums, and Brixton neighbour Al “Boots” Collins (later to be editor of tourist magazines in the West Indies and Middle East) on tenor sax. The Nocturnes achieved London popularity as a pub and club band and provided backing for other performers at a recording studio in Soho.

Then, after a brief tour with Swiss blues band, Les Questions, Dave joined Savoy Brown as a rhythm guitarist, eventually also taking over as lead singer and adding the nickname Lonesome Dave. After five albums with Savoy Brown, he decided to pursue his own path, along with drummer Roger Earl and taking bassist Tony Stevens with them.

He called his new band Foghat, a word he had made up as a child while playing Scrabble with his brother.

He used this new word to create Junior Foghat, an imaginary childhood playmate who became an alter ego and therefore the genesis of the “Lonesome Dave” persona that he was to employ as a performer. Foghat soon recorded their first, self-titled album for Bearsville Records, with Todd Rundgren and Dave Edmunds each producing tracks. With the success of an early single, a cover version of Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want to Make Love to You“, their debut release soon went gold.

In 1974, Foghat released two gold albums, Energized and Rock & Roll Outlaws. Their first platinum album, Fool for the City, was released in 1975, producing three hit singles: the title track, “My Babe”, and “Slow Ride”. Followed by another gold album, Night Shift, before their 1977 Foghat Live album which reached multi-platinum. 1978’s Stone Blue was yet another gold.

Released in 1979 Boogie Motel was the eighth studio album. It was recorded at the Boogie Motel Studios in Port Jefferson, NY, and received certified gold in the US.

After this Foghat record sales began to slip, and their last album for the Bearsville label, Zig-Zag Walk in 1983, only briefly touched the charts at No. 192. MacGregor quit in 1982 and Nick Jameson returned to play on In the Mood for Something Rude and Zig Zag Walk before turning things over to Kenny Aaronson (1983) and then Rob Alter (1983–1984). MacGregor returned in 1984. When Peverett left and returned to England, the band briefly disbanded.

But Earl, along with MacGregor and Cartwright, reformed with a new singer/guitarist Eric (E. J.) Burgeson and continued touring as Foghat into the early 1990s. MacGregor (1986–1987, 1991), Eric’s brother Brett Cartwright (1987, 1988–1989), and Jeff Howell (1987–1988, 1989–1991) alternated on bass during that time. In addition, Phil Nudelman (1989–1990) and then Billy Davis (1990–1993) took over from Burgeson. Dave Crigger joined on bass in 1991-1993.

Lonesome Dave returned to the US by 1990 and formed his own Lonesome Dave’s Foghat, but in 1993, at the urging of producer Rick Rubin, the original line-up reunited. Although Rubin ultimately proved to be unavailable to produce their comeback project, the group went ahead anyway and released a studio album entitled Return of the Boogie Men in 1994 and a live album entitled Road Cases in 1998. The final album of the decade, King Biscuit Flower Hour from the syndicated radio show of the same name, was released in May 1999, and consisted of live recordings from 1974 and 1976.

After being back together six years, the original line-up once again ended after Price decided to retire from touring for good. Bryan Bassett (who had been playing with Molly Hatchet in the interim) was brought back on guitar.

The 2000s saw the deaths of founding members Dave Peverett and Rod Price. Peverett died on 7 February 2000 from complications from kidney cancer at the age of 56, and Rod Price died on 22 March 2005 at the age of 57 of a fall resulting from a heart attack.