Creedence Clearwater Revival

Creedence Clearwater Revival, commonly abbreviated as CCR or simply Creedence, was an American rock band formed in El Cerrito, California, in 1959. The band consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty; his brother, rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty; bassist Stu Cook; and drummer Doug Clifford. These members had played together since 1959, first as the Blue Velvets and later as the Golliwogs, before settling on Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1967. The band's most prolific and successful period, between 1969 and 1971, produced 14 consecutive top-10 singles (many of which were double A-sides) and five consecutive top-10 albums in the United States, two of which—Green River (1969) and Cosmo's Factory (1970)—topped the Billboard 200 chart. The band performed at the 1969 Woodstock festival in upstate New York and was the first major act signed to appear there.CCR disbanded acrimoniously in late 1972 after four years of chart-topping success. Tom had quit the band the previous year and John was at odds with the remaining members over matters of business and artistic control, all of which resulted in lawsuits among the former bandmates. John's disagreements with Fantasy Records owner Saul Zaentz led to more court cases and John refused to perform with the two other surviving members of the band—Tom had died in 1990—at Creedence's 1993 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Though the band has never publicly reunited, John continues to perform CCR songs as part of his solo act, while Cook and Clifford performed as Creedence Clearwater Revisited from 1995 to 2020.CCR's music remains popular and is a staple of U.S. classic rock radio airplay. The compilation album Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits, originally released in 1976, is still on the Billboard 200 and reached the 750-week mark in June 2025. It has been certified 12-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for at least 12 million copies sold in the U.S.John Fogerty, Doug Clifford, and Stu Cook met at Portola Junior High School in El Cerrito, California. Calling themselves the Blue Velvets, the trio predominantly played instrumental covers of acts such as The Ventures and Duane Eddy, coupled with a selection of "jukebox standards" that Fogerty sang on. The Blue Velvets backed John's older brother Tom at recordings and performances before he joined the band, at which point the band was renamed Tommy Fogerty & The Blue Velvets. The band had also released three singles, the second of which was picked up by Casey Kasem, who worked at KEWB, Oakland. In 1964 they signed with Fantasy Records, an independent jazz label in San Francisco. The band was attracted to the label after hearing Vince Guaraldi's instrumental "Cast Your Fate to the Wind", which the label had released to national success.For the band's first release, Fantasy co-owner Max Weiss renamed the group the Golliwogs (after the children's book character Golliwog). Prior to the Golliwog name, Weiss had renamed them Vision. The band members' roles changed during this period; Cook switched from piano to bass guitar and Tom Fogerty from lead vocals to rhythm guitar; John became the band's lead vocalist and primary songwriter. In Tom's words: "I could sing, but John had a sound!" For their work with this band, Tom took on the name "Rann Wild" and John became "Toby Green". Both sides of each of the group's first six singles (issued between 1964 and 1966) were credited to the writing team of Wild/Green.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.