Dave Peverett

David Jack Peverett (16 April 1943 – 7 February 2000), also known as Lonesome Dave, was an English singer and guitarist, and the original lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Foghat, which he co-founded following his tenure in Savoy Brown.

Early years

Peverett was a fan of the blues and of blues-based rock and roll, and played these forms while performing. In the formative pre-Beatles early 1960s, 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 United States) on drums, Keith Sutton on rhythm guitar, 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. After a brief tour with Swiss blues band Les Questions (during which time he was billed as Lonesome Dave Jaxx), Dave joined Savoy Brown as a rhythm guitarist, eventually taking over as lead singer. After five albums with Savoy Brown he decided to pursue his own path along with drummer Roger Earl and took bassist Tony Stevens with them.

The beginning of Foghat

The new project took form with the addition of lead guitarist Rod Price in 1971. Peverett decided to call the new band Foghat (thought by some, mistakenly, to be a pun on the F word); this was actually a nonsense word he had made up as a child while playing Scrabble with his brother John. He used his 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.