Foghat are a British rock band who had their peak success in the mid- to late-1970s. Their style can be described as "blues-rock," dominated by electric and electric slide guitar. The band has achieved five gold records. The group remained popular during the disco era, but their popularity waned in the early 1980s.
The band initially featured Dave Peverett ("Lonesome Dave") on guitar and vocal, Tony Stevens on bass, and Roger Earl on drums. After leaving Savoy Brown in December 1967, they added Rod Price on guitar/slide guitar and formed Foghat in January 1968. Their 1972 album Foghat was produced by Dave Edmunds and had a cover of Willie Dixon's "I Just Want to Make Love to You" which received much airplay, especially on FM stations. The band's second self-titled album was also known as Rock and Roll for its cover photo of a rock and a bread roll, and it went gold. Energized came out in 1974, followed by Rock and Roll Outlaws and Fool for the City in 1975, the year that Stevens left the band after objecting to their endless touring schedule. Stevens was replaced temporarily by producer Nick Jameson in 1975 when the band recorded Fool For The City. In the next year, he was replaced by Craig MacGregor and the group produced Night Shift in 1976, a live album in 1977, and Stone Blue in 1978, each reaching "gold" record sales. Fool for the City spawned the hit single "Slow Ride" (which reached number 20 on the US charts), but the greatest sales figures were for Foghat Live, which sold over 2,000,000 copies. More hits followed: "Drivin' Wheel", "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (from the live album), "Stone Blue" and "Third Time Lucky (The First Time I Was a Fool)". But Rod Price, unhappy with the group's still constant touring and the shift away from their hard boogie sound towards a more New Wave influenced Pop direction, left the band in November 1980. After months of auditions he was replaced by Erik Cartwright by February 1981.
After 1978, 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 #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.
After Dave Peverett left in 1984 and went back to England, the group disbanded. But Earl, along with MacGregor and Cartwright reformed the group in 1986 with a new singer/guitarist Eric (E. J.) Burgeson and continued touring as Foghat into the early nineties. MacGregor (1986-1987, 1991), Eric's brother Brett Cartwright (1987, 1988-1989, 1992) and Jeff Howell (1987-1988, 1989-1991, 1992) alternated on bass during that time. And Phil Nudelman (1989-1990) and then Billy Davis (1990-1993) took over from Burgeson. Dave Crigger joined on bass in 1992-1993.
Lonesome Dave himself had returned to the U.S. by 1990 and formed his own Lonesome Dave's Foghat that featured Bryan Bassett (ex Wild Cherry), Stephen Dees (bass) and Eddie Zyne (drums). Dees and Zyne had played with Hall and Oates, among others. Former Molly Hatchet bassist Riff West succeeded Dees in 1991 and Rod Price even did the odd guest appearance.
In 1993, at the urging of producer Rick Rubin, the original lineup reunited. Though 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 lineup 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 death of founding members Dave Peverett and Rod Price. Peverett died on February 7, 2000 from cancer, and Price died on March 22, 2005. As of 2005, Tony Stevens has been replaced again by Craig MacGregor. In 2006, a follow up to the best-selling Live album was released - Live II.
Fool For The City
Slow Ride
HONEY HUSH
I Just Want to Make Love To You
Sweet Home Chicago
Stone Blue
