John Fogerty

A hero of American rock music, John Fogerty's one-of-a-kind blend of swampy Southern vibes, straightforward, tuneful rock, and simple, eloquent everyman lyrics has inspired several generations of great bands. As the leader of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fogerty was responsible for a run of twelve Top 40 singles between 1968 and 1972, and songs like "Proud Mary," "Bad Moon Rising," and "Fortunate Son" would become enduring anthems. Legal battles over the ownership of his songwriting catalog would sap his productivity, but with 1985's Centerfield, he re-established himself as an inspired hitmaker, and 1997's Blue Moon Swamp and 2007's Revival proved he never lost his spark as a tunesmith or guitarist. 2025's Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years saw him taking a second look at some of his CCR hits after winning back majority control of his songs.

John Fogerty was born in Berkley, CA on May 28, 1945. His father was a linotype operator and his mother was a schoolteacher; they were problem drinkers, and divorced before he finished grade school. Having seen the dark side of blue color life, Fogerty had dreams of a different path, and by the time he was in high school, he had picked up the guitar and started a band. Recruiting bassist Stu Cook and drummer Doug Clifford, they founded the Blue Velvets, who started out playing covers. In time, John's brother Tom Fogerty would join the group, and both Fogerty brothers began writing songs. In 1961, they landed a deal with a small San Francisco label, Orchestra Records, who issued three singles credited to Tommy Fogerty and the Blue Velvets (though a typographical error turned them into Tommy Fogerty and the Blue Violets on their third 45). None of their releases for Orchestra made an impression commercially, and the band was looking for a new label when they saw a television documentary on Fantasy Records, a jazz label based in the Bay Area, who had landed a surprise hit single with the Vince Guaraldi instrumental "Cast Your Fate To The Wind." The Blue Velvets approached Fantasy Records, who were eager to expand into rock & roll, and they signed the band, though when they issued their first single for their new label, they discovered Fantasy had changed their name to the Golliwogs, without bothering to ask the group. Between 1964 and 1967, Fantasy and their sibling label Scorpio Records issued seven Golliwogs singles, most quite good but none of which would chart.

In 1966, John Fogerty joined the Army, knowing his draft notice was on its way and that volunteers could serve a shorter hitch than conscripted G.I.'s. His six-month stretch in the Army was followed by a spell in the Army Reserves, and the experience had an impact on his songwriter, as he began exploring more serious themes. In 1967, after Saul Zaentz, an executive at Fantasy, bought the company from founders Max Weiss and Sol Weiss, he offered the band a chance to make an album, which coincided with their exploring a new musical direction and changing their name to Creedence Clearwater Revival. Their self-titled debut album was released in May 1968, and their stretched-out version of Dale Hawkins' "Susie Q" became a chart success, and the LP went on to sell over a million copies. (The album also featured two songs they had previously recorded as the Golliwogs, "Porterville" and "Walk on the Water.") May 1969 brought CCR's second LP, Bayou Country, which outran the debut's success thanks to a pair of hit singles, "Proud Mary" and "Born on the Bayou," and before the year was out, they delivered two more albums, Green River and Willy and the Poor Boys.

The wildly productive group brought out two more albums in 1970, Cosmo's Factory and Pendulum, but not all was well in CCR. By the time they released Pendulum, John Fogerty was writing and singing CCR's songs, handling the arrangements, and producing the sessions, and while the results brought them great success, his bandmates wanted more say in their work. Tom Fogerty left the group for a solo career in 1971, and they continued on as a trio. For 1972's Mardi Gras, Fogerty wrote only three songs, with six of the others written by Cook and Clifford. (A cover of the Ricky Nelson hit "Hello May Lou" rounded out the track listing.) While "Sweet Hitch-Hiker" and "Someday Never Comes," both penned by Fogerty, were well received, the consensus was that Cook and Clifford's songs were not up to the same standards, and reviews were not enthusiastic. Rather than easing tensions in the group, this pushed them to the breaking point, and in October 1972, Credence Clearwater Revival officially announced their breakup.

In 1973, Fogerty launched his solo career in a low-key manner with Blue Ridge Rangers, an album of country and gospel covers in which he played all the instruments. It produced a hit single with a cover of Hank Williams' "Jambalaya," but Fogerty's relationship with Fantasy was contentious. When Fogerty learned the full extent of his commitments to the label and that they owned and controlled the publishing rights to his songs, Fogerty went on strike, refusing to record new material, and bickered at length with Saul Zaentz. Fogerty's next album was a self-titled LP issued in 1975; Asylum Records had struck a deal to release the disc in the United States while Fantasy distributed it in the rest of the world. Like Blue Ridge Rangers, Fogerty handled the instrumental work himself on John Fogerty, and while the songs "Almost Saturday Night" and "Rockin' All Over the World" would be covered frequently in the years to come, the album was a major commercial disappointment. Fogerty cut a second album for Asylum, Hoodoo, for release in 1976, but neither he nor the label were happy with the results, and the release was shelved at the last minute. (Fogerty supposedly told Asylum to destroy Hoodoo's master tapes, but the album would be widely bootlegged in the 1980s.)

As he dealt with his legal problems, Fogerty went on hiatus for several years, but after Warner Bros. took over his contract with Asylum, he began working in ernest on new material, and in 1987, they released Centerfield. It was Fogerty's strongest work since CCR's Cosmo's Factory, and spawned three hit singles, "The Old Man Down the Road," "Rock and Roll Girls," and the title tune. It also included a pair of songs inspired by his ongoing battle with Fantasy and Zaentz, "Mr. Greed" and "Zanz Kant Danz." Predictably, Zaentz sued for defamation over "Zanz Kant Danz," and a new version of the song, "Vanz Kant Danz," would appear on later editions of the LP. Less predictably, Zaentz would also sue Fogerty over "The Old Man Down the Road," insisting it plagiarized the CCR hit "Run Through the Jungle," which he owned. The court found that Fogerty had not stolen from himself, but it did little to smooth out his relationship with Zaentz. Fogerty also staged a concert tour after Centerfield's release, though he refused to play any of his CCR hits on stage.

Centerfield's follow-up, Eye of the Zombie, arrived in 1986, and was his first solo effort with a backing band. Critically and commercially, it wasn't as successful as Centerfield, and Fogerty eased out of the public eye, though in 1987, he played some of his CCR hits at a benefit concert for Vietnam Veterans in Washington, D.C., and in 1989, he performed them again at a benefit for AIDS treatment and research, with Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir among the backing musicians. (Tom Fogerty was in treatment for AIDS at the time, having contracted the HIV virus from a blood transfusion during surgery, though Tom's decision to side with Zaentz in a dispute over CCR royalty payments made him and John enemies for years.) In 1993, Credence Clearwater Revival were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and Fogerty sang "Green River," "Born on the Bayou," and "Who'll Stop the Rain" for the occasion, though he declined to perform with Cook and Clifford.

In 1997, Fogerty and Warner Bros. issued Blue Moon Swamp, a set of new songs with the CCR feel that was a hit with critics and fans, and earned him a Grammy for Best Rock Album. Fogerty used a small army of session musicians to record it, and he staged an extensive concert tour to promote it, where he played material from his days in CCR as well as his solo catalog; the tour was documented on a fine live album, 1998's Premonition. After Fogerty struck a new record deal with DreamWorks Records (who also took control of Fogerty's Warner Bros. catalog), he made 2004's Deja Vu All Over Again, a set of straightforward rock & roll with some incisive political commentary in the title cut. That same year, Fantasy Records was sold to Concord Records, and the new management soon reached out to Fogerty to resolve his long running dispute over CCR royalties. In 2005, DreamWorks was absorbed by Geffen Records, and Fogerty was dropped from their roster; as Concord were making good on efforts to resolve Fogerty's disputes with Fantasy, he signed with Concord, and before the year was out, they issued The Long Road Home, a compilation that featured highlights from Fogerty's years with CCR as well as his solo material. Fogerty set out on tour to celebrate the release, which resulted in the 2006 live set The Long Road Home: In Concert. 2007's Revival was a lively set that paid explicitly homage to the sound and message of CCR, and he revived the Blue Ridge Rangers concept for 2009's The Blue Ridge Rangers Ride Again, with Bruce Springsteen joining him for a cover of the Everly Brothers' "When Will I Be Loved."

On 2013's Wrote A Song For Everyone, Fogerty brought in a number of famous friends and fans to cut new versions of his classic songs, with Bob Seger, Foo Fighters, My Morning Jacket, Brad Paisley, and Jennifer Hudson among the guest stars. In 2019, Fogerty celebrated the 50th anniversary of the release of CCR's debut album (a year late) with a special concert tour, and 2019's 50 Year Trip (Live at Red Rocks) was recorded during the Colorado stop on the journey. In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the live music industry for a while, Fogerty began staging on-line performances from his home, backed by his children – Shane Fogerty, Tyler Fogerty, and Kelsey Fogerty. The cream of the on-line shows were compiled into the 2020 LP Fogerty's Factory. In 2023, Fogerty finally reached an agreement that gave him majority control over the publishing rights to his CCR catalog. Still smarting over the fact Concord owned the rights to the recordings and didn't want to sell, he struck on the idea of recording new versions of 20 of his old band's hits, and 2025's Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years saw him and his family band delivering fresh recordings that followed the template of the hit versions from the 1960s and '70s. ~ Mark Deming