John Fogerty was born on this day in 1945. The co-founding brother and principle songwriter in Creedence Clearwater Revival, one of the most prolific US bands of its time, was born in Berkeley, California. After taking guitar lessons from Barry Oliver, the musician that started the Berkeley Folk Festival, John started group that would become CCR with bassist Stu Cook and drummer Dough Clifford while the four were in high school in 1959. His older brother, Tom, joined the band they called the Blue Velvets soon after.
Fantasy Records signed the band in 1964 and changed the name of the group to The Golliwogs, something band members didn't discover until seeing it displayed on a single they'd recorded for the label. That underhanded move and the onerous contract the group had signed resulted in a decades long feud and legal entanglements between John and the label that included several years during which John, as a solo artist, refused to perform or re-record songs he'd written while with Creedence under contract with Fantasy so that the label would not profit from them.
The Golliwogs recorded several singles but did not release an album before John was drafted and served a couple of years in the Army. After his discharge, the group did record and release one album before changing its name to Creedence Clearwater Revival. Creedence was only together four years, but produced a slew of albums, including three in 1969 alone.
The band split soon after John's brother opted out in 1972. After releasing an album under the name The Blue Ridge Rangers in 1973, John began work on what would become his first solo album under his own name. That 1975 solo debut and the album that followed met with modest success.
Fogerty spent several years on the musical sidelines before returning in 1985 with the Centerfield, the album that would become by far his most popular solo effort. The inclusion of two songs perceived as being directed at the head of his former label led to two lawsuits, including one that claimed that one of the biggest songs on the album, Old Man Down the Road, used the same chorus notes that were in Run Through the Jungle, a CCR hit that Fantasy Records still owned the publishing rights to. One of the cases went to a circuit court appeal and then to the US Supreme Court, where Fogerty prevailed.
John's touring pace picked-up considerably in recent years before coming to a halt at the onset of the Covid pandemic in 2019 while he was in the middle of a 50th anniversary tour. While in lockdown, Fogerty recorded and streamed several songs with his two sons and his daughter under the name Fogerty's Factory.
Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on May 28 include...
1917 Violinist "Papa" John Creach born.
1947 Leland Sklar (bassist with David Bowie, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, David Crosby,Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Phil Collins, Warren Zevon, James Taylor, Rod Stewart and many others, born.
1966 Members of the Beatles and Bob Dylan spend the day together in London.
1969 Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithful arrested on marijuana charges in London.
1971 David & Angela Bowie son Duncan Zowie Bowie born.
1973 Ronnie Lane leaves the Faces.
1976 Allman Brothers break up after Gregg testifies in trail against their road manager.
1977 Members of the Police play together for the first time.
1977 Bruce Springsteen settles long suit against manager Mike Appel.
1982 Bill Graham stages a Vietnam Veterans benefit concert in San Francisco featuring the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Starship and Country Joe McDonald.
1987 Ozzy gives flyers a version of Crazy Train on plane PA during Miami to Boston flight.
1988 Steven Tyler marries Teresa Barrick
1994 Eagles open Hell Freezes Over tour.
1997 U2 concert in Raleigh, NC called off after severe thunderstorm destroys Jumbotron.
2007 The Police open a reunion tour in Vancouver.
2015 Pete Townshend honored as MusiCares Person of the Year.
2021 John Hall releases Reclaiming My Time.
