May 28: John Fogerty- Creedence Clearwater Revival - is 68-years-old today.

-----

John Cameron Fogerty was born on May 28, 1945 in Berkeley, California. He is best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) and as a solo recording artist.

Fogerty achieved the rare distinction of being named on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest Guitarists at No. 40 and the list of 100 Greatest Singers at No. 72. The songs "Proud Mary" and "Born on the Bayou" also rank amongst the Greatest Pop songs ("Proud Mary," #41) and Guitar songs ("Born on the Bayou," #53).

-----

John He attended El Cerrito High School along with the other members of CCR and took guitar lessons from Berkeley Folk Festival creator/producer Barry Olivier. John and his older brother, the late Tom Fogerty, joined Doug Clifford and Stu Cook in the late 1950s to form the band Tommy Fogerty and the Blue Velvets. After signing with the jazz label Fantasy in 1965, they became The Golliwogs and released a few singles that did not sell well. After John was discharged from the Army Reserves in 1967, they changed their name to Creedence Clearwater Revival.

By 1968, things started to pick up for the band. The band released its first album, the self-titled Creedence Clearwater Revival, and also had their first hit single, "Susie Q.” Many other hit singles and albums followed beginning with "Proud Mary" and the parent album Bayou Country. John, as primary song writer, lead singer and lead guitarist, thought his musical opinions should count for more than the other band members, leading to resentments within the band. As a result, in January 1971, Tom left the group.


Bassist Stu Cook and drummer Doug Clifford, wanted a greater role in the band's future and John, in an attempt to keep the group together, had Cook and Clifford share equal songwriting and vocal time on the band's final album, Mardi Gras, released in April 1972. This album included the band's last two singles, the 1971 hit "Sweet Hitch-Hiker,” and "Someday Never Comes,” which barely made it into the Billboard Top 20. It was a commercial success, peaking at #12 and achieved gold record status but generated weaker sales than their previous albums. The group disbanded shortly afterwards.

CCR's only reunion with all four original members was at Tom Fogerty's wedding in 1980. John, Doug and Stu played a 45 minute set at their 20th class reunion in 1983, and John and Doug would reunite again for a brief set at their 25th class reunion in 1988. By the time Creedence Clearwater Revival was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, John Fogerty refused to perform with his surviving bandmates Stu Cook and Doug Clifford. The pair were barred from the stage, while Fogerty played with an all-star band that included Bruce Springsteen and Robbie Robertson.

John Fogerty began a solo career, originally under the name The Blue Ridge Rangers for his 1973 LP debut. Fogerty played all of the instruments on covers of others' country music hits, such as "Jambalaya" (which was a Top 20 hit). After performing country & western tunes he released a rock & roll single in late 1973, also as The Blue Ridge Rangers. The two John Fogerty penned songs were "You Don't Owe Me" and "Back in the Hills" (Fantasy F-710). In early 1974 John Fogerty released two rock & roll tunes on a 7"-single. The two songs were the vocal "Comin' down the Road" b/w the instrumental "Ricochet.”

 

                                                   -----

In October 2007, Fogerty completed his first new rock album in three years, titled Revival, which , debuted at number 14 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart with sales about 65,000 copies in its first week. Revival was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album of 2008 but lost to the Foo Fighters. On November 12, 2012 Fogerty announced that he was currently writing his memoirs, and that the book was expected to be released in 2014. Also planned is an audiobook version, narrated by Fogerty.

-----

For more about John, visit his Website at –

http://www.johnfogerty.info/

####