Creedence Clearwater Revival

El Cerrito

John Fogerty, Doug Clifford and Stu Cook met at Portola Junior High in El Cerrito in 1959 and played together as the Blue Velvets, backing John's older brother Tom, who later joined. In 1964 they signed to Fantasy Records in Berkeley, where co-owner Max Weiss renamed them the Golliwogs. In 1966 John was drafted into the Army Reserve and Clifford went into the Coast Guard Reserve.

When Saul Zaentz bought Fantasy in 1967 he offered the band an album on one condition: a new name. They became Creedence Clearwater Revival in January 1968, drawing on Tom's friend Credence Newball, a beer commercial that said clear water, and the four members' renewed commitment. Porterville, the last Golliwogs single, was released in January 1968 as the first single under the new name. Their debut album came out that year, and a long version of Suzie Q reached No. 11 in the US.

1969

Bayou Country, recorded at RCA Studios in Hollywood, arrived in January 1969 and carried Proud Mary, which went to No. 2, and Born on the Bayou. In August Green River became their first No. 1 album. Its title song and Bad Moon Rising both reached No. 2 on the US singles chart, and Bad Moon Rising was their only UK No. 1.

That summer they played the Atlanta Pop Festival and then Woodstock, going on in the early hours of 17 August after the Grateful Dead. In October came Willy and the Poor Boys, with Fortunate Son, which they played on The Ed Sullivan Show in November.

The peak

In February 1970 they were on the cover of Rolling Stone, and in April they made their first European tour, including a show at the Royal Albert Hall. Cosmo's Factory, released in July, spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and topped the charts in six countries. Six of its tracks were sides of singles that reached the Hot 100's top five. The title joins Clifford's nickname to the Berkeley warehouse where John made the band rehearse almost daily.

John Fogerty wrote, produced and arranged every album. The others pushed back: Fogerty said that making Bayou Country brought a real confrontation, since everybody wanted to sing, write and arrange, while Cook said they had enough latitude to shape their own parts.

Breakup

After an October 1970 meeting in which Tom, Cook and Clifford asked for a larger role, Pendulum appeared in December with Have You Ever Seen the Rain?. Tom's departure was announced in February 1971, and the trio released Mardi Gras in April 1972, with each member writing and singing. Jon Landau of Rolling Stone called it the worst album he had heard from a major rock band. The single Sweet Hitch-Hiker had reached No. 6 in July 1971, their ninth and last top-10 hit. After Mardi Gras the trio played a two-month, 20-date US tour, and the breakup was announced on 16 October 1972.

Afterward

John Fogerty went solo with The Blue Ridge Rangers in 1973, while Fantasy kept the catalogue moving with compilations, among them Chronicle in 1976. The four were together once more only at Tom's wedding in 1980. In the 1980s Fogerty refused to play the songs, and he broke the ban at the Palomino Club in North Hollywood on 19 February 1987, with Bob Dylan among the musicians on stage. Tom died in 1990.

The band entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, but Fogerty refused to play with Cook and Clifford, who toured as Creedence Clearwater Revisited from 1995 to 2020. In January 2023 Fogerty announced that he owned the CCR catalogue rights worldwide. Rolling Stone ranks the band No. 82 among its 100 greatest artists.