Fred Koogler – 2023 INDUCTEE
Fred was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa, October 23, 1948. He grew up on military installations across the United States, England, and Germany. Fred developed an early love for music in churches and listening to the prevailing hits of the time on radio, particularly blues and roots music coming out of the deep South, Chicago and Memphis.
Fred worked as a busboy and dishwasher the summer of 1963 to earn enough to buy his first electric guitar and began to teach himself how to play both guitar and bass guitar. By early 1964, he had formed a band and was playing on both United States and German military installations throughout Germany. He also played actively at clubs and festivals on the German economy, as well as in the cellar clubs in Germany and Luxembourg.
Fred returned to Oskaloosa, Iowa in June of 1966 and joined the Yetti, which would go on to travel Iowa extensively in 1966 and 1967, record at Iowa Great Lakes recording studios, and become inducted into the Iowa Rock & Roll Music Association’s Hall of Fame in 2007.
After an unsuccessful attempt to break into music as a career in New York from 1967 – 1970, Fred returned to the Midwest to pursue training and employment in the financial services industry, eventually earning a graduate degree in banking. He worked for 47 years in banking, investment management, financial planning and financial education, retiring first in 2007 and a second time in 2017.
In 2004, Fred helped re-form the 1960s Yetti, playing predominately Blues, Blues based, and Roots music. The band was then known as Yetti Bluez and performed 80 – 100 shows a year around central and south-central Iowa. Yetti Bluez recorded an album of original songs, called “Tracks” in 2005. In 2007, Yetti Bluez opened for Blues Traveler, The Oakridge Boys, and Tab Benoit. Yetti Bluez was runner-up in the CIBS 2007 Iowa Blues Challenge. Fred played bass and managed this band.
Fred managed and played bass for Cross Roads, another south-central Iowa band, 2009 – 2012, playing 80 – 110 shows a year.
Fred played bass for the Steve E. George Band 2011 – 2013.
In 2014, Fred was asked to play bass for the re-formation of Inner Lite, a Marshalltown group, popular in the 1970s for its original songs and covers of psychedelic music of that era. Fred was inducted into the Iowa Rock & Roll Music Association’s Hall of Fame, for a second time in 2015, for his work on bass with Inner Lite.
From 2011 – 2020, Fred was active on the jam session scene in the Des Moines area, sharing the stage in multiple venues with many of the great players in the Des Moines and surrounding areas. He co-hosted the Sunday Night Jam Session at the Hull Avenue Tavern for a little more than four years. After stepping down as a host to spend more time with his family, Fred continued to be a regular at that session and several others around Des Moines.
2023 begins the 60th year of Fred playing the Blues. Receiving the honor of being inducted into the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame Class of 2023 is something he considers one of his greatest recognition’s.
