Creedence Clearwater Revival Chronicles

Quick reference-Facts and Trivia


• Band Members: John Fogerty (Lead vocals, guitar), Tom Fogerty (rhythm guitar), Stu Cook (bass), and Doug Clifford (drums)

• John Fogerty and his older brother Tom were the two brothers in CCR.

• Doug Clifford and Stu Cook were Junior high school friends.

• Creedence Clearwater Revival were active 1968-1972

• CCR broke up on October 16, 1972. Discord amongst members of the band for input, songwriting, and overall leadership of the band combined with disagreements with their record label are the alleged causes of the break up.

• You would never guess by listening to CCR that John Fogerty grew up in California, and never had set foot in Louisiana or the Bayou country. The CCR sound was inspired by his childhood growing up. John listened to a lot of music written about the South and performed by southerners; Muddy Waters, Lightnin' Hopkins, Howlin' Wolf, Elvis, Carl Perkins, and Hank Williams were just a few artists that influenced John.

• CCR was originally called The Blue Velvets and then the Golliwogs.

• Where did the band’s name come from you ask? Tom Fogerty had a friend at work who had a friend whose name was Creedence Nuball. John Fogerty took the "Clearwater" part from a beer advertisement. "Revival" referred to the band's rebirth or revival.

• All Creedence albums and singles were released on the Fantasy label.

• CCR never had a #1 single in the US. But they did have 13 songs that reached the Top 40, including five singles that hit #2.

• Suzie-Q" was written by Dale Hawkins not John Fogerty.

• Creedence's first album was named after the band. The second album was "Bayou Country" and their third album was entitled "Green River".

• Only three members worked on the final album "Mardi Gras". Tom Fogerty had decided to call it quits and had already left the group before this album was recorded.

• CCR did perform at Woodstock, however, their performance did not appear in either the film or the original Woodstock album because John Fogerty wouldn’t allow it. He felt CCR's performance was impacted by technical difficulties at the site and that it occurred in the late hours following a lackadaisical performance by the Grateful Dead, was not good enough to be forever documented on film and record. Four songs of the concert were released on the Woodstock box set in 1994.


• Stu Cook and Doug Clifford formed a band called Creedence Clearwater Revisited in 1995. With three additional musicians in the place of the absence of the Fogerty brothers, the band toured and performed Creedence Clearwater Revival songs.

• On September 6, 1990, Tom Fogerty died of AIDS (specifically from a tuberculosis infection)in Scottsdale, Arizona. He contracted HIV from blood transfusions for back ailments in the early 80's. After his death a music compilation titled The Very Best of Tom Fogerty was released.

• CCR was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 1993.

• CCR ranked at 82 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.

• Tom and John never reconciled before Tom's death. He delivered the eulogy at Tom's funeral.

• John Fogerty has a 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 Fogerty married Martha Paiz in 1965. The couple had three children. They divorced in the 1970s. He then met Julie Kramer in 1986, and later married in Elkhart, Indiana on April 20, 1991. Kramer had a daughter from a previous marriage. The couple had two sons, Shane and Tyler, and a daughter, Kelsy. As of 2009, they live in Beverly Hills, California.