John Fogerty Tickets

About John Fogerty

It's all the more ironic, then, that the man who has made some of the most spontaneously celebratory sounds the world has ever known should himself have been woefully underrepresented in the live recording arena. The documentary evidence of John Fogerty live can, in fact, be counted on the fingers of one hand: "Live In Europe," recorded during Creedence Clearwater Revival's 1971 continental concert tour and released two years later, after the group's demise; 1981's "The Concert," originally released as "The Royal Albert Had Concert" before the record company confessed it actually contained material recorded in Oakland, California in 1970; 1985's "John Fogerty's All Stars," an in-concert television special (never commercially released), along with, of course, the requisite muddy and muffled bootlegs making the record collector rounds.

b. 28 May 1945, Berkeley, California, USA. As the vocalist and composer with Creedence Clearwater Revival, one of the most successful acts of its era, Fogerty seemed assured of a similar status when he began a solo career in 1972. Recording as the Blue Ridge Rangers, the album was a curiously understated affair designed to suggest the work of a group. The material consisted of country and gospel songs, two tracks from which, "Jambalaya (On The Bayou)" and "Hearts Of Stone", became US hit singles in 1973. Despite the exclusion of original songs and its outer anonymity, the work was clearly that of Fogerty, whose voice and instrumentation were unmistakable. The first of many legal problems arose when the singer charged that his label, Fantasy Records, had not promoted the record sufficiently. He demanded a release from his contract, but the company claimed the rights to a further eight albums. This situation remained at an impasse until Asylum Records secured Fogerty's North American contract, while Fantasy retained copyright for the rest of the world.

Fogerty made his solo debut proper in 1975 with a self-titled set. John Fogerty contained several classic tracks, notably "Almost Saturday Night" and "Rockin' All Over The World" which were successfully covered, respectively, by Dave Edmunds and Status Quo. However, Fogerty's legal entanglements still persisted and although a single, "Comin' Down The Road", was released from a prospective third album, Hoodoo, it was never issued. It was 1985 before the artist re-emerged with the accomplished Centerfield, which topped the US album chart and provided an international hit single in "The Old Man Down The Road". The set also included two powerful rock songs, "Mr. Greed" and "Zanz Kan't Danz", which Fantasy owner Saul Zaentz assumed was a personal attack. He sued Fogerty for $142 million, claiming he had been slandered by the album's lyrics, and filed for the profits from "The Old Man Down The Road", asserting the song plagiarized Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Run Through The Jungle". Fogerty's riposte was a fourth album, Eye Of The Zombie, which, although failing to scale the heights of its predecessor, was the impetus for a series of excellent live performances.

Since the late 80s Fogerty has maintained a lower profile, and successfully secured a decision against Zaentz's punitive action. The 1997 comeback album Blue Moon Swamp was a welcome return to form. The reviews were generally excellent, although the material on the album was not radically different from Fogerty's favored mix of rock and country. Possibly his popularity is greater than his product. The live Premonition was released the following year. Fogerty returned to the headlines in October 2004 when he participated in the Vote For Change Tour, joining acts such as Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam and R.E.M. in a series of shows intended to influence voters to remove President George W. Bush from the White House. His new studio album, Deja Vu All Over Again, was released at the same time.