John Fogerty

John Fogerty

John Fogerty is an American rock singer, songwriter and guitarist from Berkeley, California. Born in 1945, he is best known for his work with Creedence Clearwater Revival and for a long solo career. His music is associated with rock, blues, blues rock, classic rock, folk and folk rock.

Early career and Creedence Clearwater Revival

Fogerty performs as a member of The Golliwogs, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Blue Ridge Rangers, Sound City Players and Tommy Fogerty & The Blue Velvets. He becomes widely known as the principal figure in Creedence Clearwater Revival, a group later inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. At that induction, he does not perform with former bandmates Stu Cook and Doug Clifford and instead appears with a group of LA session musicians, joined by Bruce Springsteen and Robbie Robertson.

Solo work and Blue Ridge Rangers

Fogerty begins his solo recording career under the name The Blue Ridge Rangers, which he uses for his 1973 LP debut. On that record he plays all the instruments on covers of country songs, including “Jambalaya”, which becomes a Top 40 hit. He also releases a rock and roll single under the Blue Ridge Rangers name in late 1973, with the Fogerty-written songs “You Don’t Owe Me” and “Back In The Hills”. In early 1974 he issues another single, “Comin’ Down The Road” backed with the instrumental “Ricochet”.

His second solo album, John Fogerty, appears in 1975. Its sales are modest, and legal issues delay a follow-up, although the period produces “Rockin’ All Over the World”, a North American Top 40 hit. Fogerty completes an album titled Hoodoo in 1976, but it is rejected before release. He later asks for the master tapes to be destroyed and is described as a perfectionist who often destroys unreleased material. He also says that he cannot write music during this period.

Return to commercial success

Fogerty returns strongly with Centerfield in 1985, his first album for Warner Bros. Records. The album reaches the top of the charts and includes “The Old Man Down The Road”, a top-ten hit. The title track becomes a regular presence on classic rock radio and at baseball games. The album also leads to legal disputes over “Zanz Kant Danz” and “Mr Greed”, which are understood as attacks on Saul Zaentz of Fantasy Records. Fogerty issues a revised version of “Zanz Kant Danz” with the name changed to “Vanz”, and he ultimately wins a lawsuit alleging that “The Old Man Down The Road” copies “Run Through The Jungle”.

His next album, Eye of the Zombie, appears in 1986 and is less successful. Fogerty tours behind it but does not play Creedence songs during that period, and for years he avoids songs from the album itself. “Change In The Weather” later returns to his set list in 2009.

Creedence songs, blues roots and later albums

Fogerty performs Creedence material again at a Washington, D.C. concert for Vietnam veterans on 4 July 1987, which is broadcast on HBO. Aside from a Palomino show, it is the first time he performs Creedence songs for a large audience since 1972.

In 1990 he travels to Mississippi for inspiration, visits the grave of blues musician Robert Johnson and comes to see Johnson as the spiritual source of the music Johnson wrote. He then decides to make a new album and to perform his Creedence material regularly again. During this period he also helps fund memorial headstones for Charlie Patton, James Son Thomas, Mississippi Joe Callicott and Eugene Powell, and helps with financial arrangements for several others. He meets Skip Henderson of the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund while visiting the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church cemetery.

Blue Moon Swamp appears in 1997 and wins the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. A live album from the tour also sells well and is well received. Fogerty then returns again in 2004 with Deja Vu (All Over Again), released on DreamWorks Records. The title track comments on the Iraq war as another Vietnam, and the album is short, with 10 songs in 34 minutes.

Labels, collaborations and later releases

After the sale of Fantasy Records to Concord Records in 2004, Fogerty’s long estrangement from Fantasy ends as new ownership works to restore royalty rights he gave up when leaving his earlier contract. He returns to Fantasy in 2005. That year also sees the release of The Long Road Home, a compilation that combines Creedence hits with solo material, followed by a live CD and DVD the next year.

Fogerty tours with John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson, appears on the Vote for Change tour, and plays his first headlining British concert since 1972 at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. He also performs in Sundsvall, Sweden, where a large crowd attends the concert in the town square. On Thanksgiving Day 2006 he performs at halftime of two NFL games.

He contributes to Jerry Lee Lewis’s Last Man Standing, duetting on “Travellin’ Band”, and also appears on the live follow-up, where he performs “CC Rider”, “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” and “Good Golly Miss Molly”. Revival follows, credited as a country and rock album, and is nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. Fogerty appears at the Grammy Awards with Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard, performing his 1973 single “Comin’ Down The Road”.

His touring band includes Dave Santos on bass, Kenny Aronoff on drums, Matt Nolen on keyboards, guitar and mandolin, Hunter Perrin on guitars, Billy Burnette on guitars, and Dan Hochhalter on fiddle, mandolin and guitars. He also performs at the opening of the new Yankee Stadium with “Centerfield” played from centre field. Later, he performs with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, with the orchestra opening the night and Fogerty and his band playing his best-known songs after the interval.

Other honours and side projects

Fogerty is inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005. He also appears on Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit collaborations in later projects connected to his recordings and tours. The Blue Ridge Rangers concept returns with The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again, a country-covers sequel to his 1973 solo debut. His record labels include Cody River Music Company and Wenaha Music Company.