CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL

John Fogerty’s fervent vocals and modernized rockabilly songs built on his classic guitar rifts made Creedence Clearwater Revival the preeminent American singles band of the late Sixties and early Seventies. The Fogerty brothers were raised in Berkeley, where John studied piano and at the age of 12 got his first guitar. He met Cook and Clifford at the El Cerrito junior high school they all attended. They began playing together, and by 1959 were performing at local dances as Tommy Fogerty and the Blue Velvets. In 1964 the quartet signed to San Francisco-based Fantasy Records, where Tom had been working as a packing and shipping clerk. The label renamed them the Golliwogs and began putting out singles. "Brown-Eyed Girl" sold 10,000 copies in 1965, but the follow ups were flops. Greater success came after they adopted the CCR moniker in 1967.

Several Fogerty compositions appeared on Creedence Clearwater Revival, but cover versions of Dale Hawkins’ "Suzie Q" and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ "I Put a Spell on You" were the group’s first hit singles. With the release of Bayou Country it became the most popular rock band in America. Beginning with the two-sided gold hit "Proud Mary" (#2, 1969) b/w "Born on the Bayou," Creedence dominated Top Forty radio for two years without disappointing the anti commercial element of the rock audience.

CCR’s rough-hewn rockers often dealt with political and cultural issues, and the quartet appeared at the Woodstock Festival. Creedence had seven major hit singles in 1969 and 1970, including "Bad Moon Rising" (#2, 1969), "Green River" (#2, 1969), "Fortunate Son" (#14, 1969), "Down on the Corner" (#3, 1969), "Travelin’ Band" (#2,1970), "Up Around the Bend" (#4,1970), and "Lookin’ Out My Back Door" (#2, 1970).

Although Creedence’s success continued after Cosmo’s Factory it was the group’s artistic peak. Internal dissension, primarily the result of John Fogerty’s dominant role, began to pull the band apart in the early Seventies. Tom left in January 1971, one month after the release of the pivotal Pendulum, which became the group’s fifth platinum album. It carried on as a trio, touring worldwide; Live in Europe was the recorded result. CCR’s final album, Mardi Gras, gave Cook and Clifford an equal share of the songwriting and lead vocals. Not coincidentally, it was the band’s first not to go platinum. Creedence disbanded in October 1972, and Fantasy has subsequently released a number of albums, including a live recording of a 1970 Oakland concert, which upon original release was erroneously titled Live at Albert Hall (it was later re titled The Concert).

Tom Fogerty released a number of albums on his own and with his band Ruby and worked occasionally in the early Seventies with organist Merl Saunders and Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia. He moved to Arizona in the mid-Eighties and died there from respiratory failure brought on by tuberculosis in 1990 at age 48. Clifford released a solo album in 1972 of Fifties-style rock & roll. Thereafter, he and Cook provided the rhythm sections for Doug Sahm on his 1974 LP and the Don Harrison Band after 1976. In the mid-Eighties Cook joined country group Southern Pacific, which had several hits.

Not surprisingly, John Fogerty’s solo pursuits have attracted the greatest attention. Immediately after the breakup he released a bluegrass/country album, The Blue Ridge Rangers, on which he played all the instruments. Two songs, the Hank Williams classic "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" and "Hearts of Stone," made the Top Forty. Nearly three years passed before his next LP, another one-man show titled John Fogerty. It sold poorly, and his next album, to be called Hoodoo, was rejected by Asylum Records. Unhappy with the music business, Fogerty and his family retired to a farm in rural Oregon. Except for two brief Creedence reunions -- at Tom Fogerty’s 1980 wedding and at a school reunion three years later -- he was not heard from for ten years.

He emerged with Centerfield (#1, 1985), a typically simple, tuneful collection that sold two million copies and produced hit singles in "The Old Man Down the Road" (#10, 1985), "Rock and Roll Girls" (#20, 1985), and "Centerfield" (#44, 1985). "Old Man" and another song from the album, "Zanz Kant Danz," landed Fogerty in legal trouble, however. The latter, a thinly veiled attack against Fantasy owner Saul Zaentz ("Zanz can’t dance but he’ll steal your money"), led Zaentz to sue for $142 million, not only over that song, but over "Old Man": Fantasy claimed the song plagiarized the music of the 1970 CCR B side "Run Through the Jungle." In 1988 a jury ruled in Fogerty’s favor; six years later the Supreme Court ordered Fantasy to reimburse Fogerty for over $1 million in lawyers’ fees.

For years Fogerty refused to perform CCR songs live; he’d had to surrender his artist’s royalties on them to get out of his Fantasy contract in the Seventies. But during a July 4, 1987, concert for Vietnam veterans in Washington, D.C., he broke his boycott, singing eight Creedence classics. Since then, he has once again dropped largely out of sight, surfacing only for the annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies; in 1993 his own turn came when CCR were inducted into the hall. As of 1994, Fogerty was rumored to be working on a new LP; but then, the same has been said every year since 1986’s gold Eye of the Zombie.