Anecdotes

Blues and backup singer who began in 1964 as lead singer for a Bellingham, Washington rock and roll band called the Unusuals. She became lead singer for Big Brother and the Holding Company after Janis Joplin left, was briefly an Ikette in the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, sang for over three decades with Long John Baldry, and sang backup for Elton John, Leon Russell and Joe Cocker.

Graduated from Mount Vernon High School in 1966.

Slipped into a coma and never regained consciousness. No official cause of death has ever been made public but McDonald had a history of alcohol and drug abuse.