From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Sun Nov 9, 2003  2:44 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You: Tom Fogerty
 
TOM FOGERTY (By Phil Davies)



Born Thomas Fogerty, 9 November 1941, Berkeley California

Died 6 September 1990, Scottsdale, Arizona



There were five Fogerty brothers living in the working class suburb of El
Cerrito near San Francisco. John was the middle brother born in 1945. He fondly
recalls his oldest brother Jim being a great R&B fan and that he grew up
listening to many of our SAO favs on local radio. Elvis was king but John wanted
to be Carl Perkins, "he was a real musician". His second older brother Tom was
also an aspiring musician. His mother had encouraged him to study music and he
was proficient with the violin and accordian. He was also a sports star playing
halfback for the school until he sustained a leg injury.Times were hard when the
Fogerty parents divorced in the 50s with Lucille Fogerty struggling to raise 5
sons, their ages spanning 16 years. She worked full time and studied for a
teaching degree and eventually taught handicapped youngsters, quite a woman. She
was also a folkie and took her sons to see Pete Seeger and Ramblin Jack Elliot
in local Bay area festivals. She was also musical and her boys took turns
playing any old guitars lying around the house, John recalls songs like Endless
Sleep and Lost Dreams being played. John and Tom eventually paid $5 a month to
rent a cheap electric guitar, Tom got into the blues during this period (his leg
being in a cast from his football injury). He played football again later but
music had him in its grip.

Tom. began sitting in with brother John's group the Blue Velvets, which already
included future Creedence Clearwater Revival members Stu Cook and Doug Clifford.
The Velvets set would've included instros by Duane Eddy, Johnny & the
Hurricanes, Ventures, r&b by Ray Charles and Howlin' Wolf and songs like Hully
Gully and Annie Had A Baby. Although Tom's band, the incredulously named Spider
Webb & the Insects got as far as getting a contract with Del-Fi Records,
recording a demo of Lyda Jane but nothing came out before they broke up in the
winter of 1959. Tom sang songs like Do You Wanna Dance. John Stu and Doug had
backed local black singer James Richmond on a doo wop song called Beverly Angel,
released on Christy Records. The Blue Velvets began backing Fogerty at demo
sessions and live performances, and Tom eventually joined them as billed lead
singer (they sent demos out to people like Pat Boone but the songs all came back
rejected).Under that name, they cut three very obscure singles for the small
Orchestra label, owned by Wayne Farlow, in 1961 and 1962, one was Come On Baby/
Oh My Love composed by Tom and John. then Have You Ever Been Lonely /Bonita.
Local dj Casey Kasem played it several times but it wasn't a hit.Neither was Yes
You Did/ Now You're Not Mine. Tom had married Gail his high school sweetheart.
and worked for a local utility company, they soon had two kids to feed as well.

In 63 the younger band members had graduated high school and had local jobs in
gas stations, as janitors and truck drivers (who ever heard of a truck driver
making it in the music biz??). Stu and Doug went to college and the band played
most weekends and holidays.They saw a documentary on tv called Anatomy of A Hit,
about jazz pianisy Vince Guaraldi's top 30 hit Cast Your Fate To The Wind. To
their astonishment they saw the single was recorded locally, so the Blue Velvets
and their early 45s and demos travelled across the bay to Frisco's Treat Avenue
office. Aware on Beatlemania sweeping the nation the men in suits signed the
aspiring rockers to jazz label Fantasy Records, the group's name was changed
(against their wishes) by label boss Max Weiss to the Golliwogs, there's an
incredible promo photo of the band in Golli uniforms and white afro Golli wigs,
wonder why they never made the big time? The Golliwogs recorded half a dozen
singles in the mid-'60s. At this time Tom's role in the band was far more
visible than it would be in CCR. He shared lead vocals with John (in fact, Tom
took all of the lead vocals on the first three singles), and the Fogerty
brothers co-wrote most of theGolliwogs singles. John worked as a shipping clerk
in the Fantasy office. These 45s (eventually assembled on the Fantasy LP Pre
Creedence) were extremely derivative of the British Invasion and other R&B and
rock trends of the day, with few hints of the swampy roots rock that would
characterize CCR. Only Brown Eyed Girl (not the Van Morrison song) sold a few
thousand locally. Even by the end of the Golli days, it was becoming obvious
that John was much the more vital singer and songwriter. Saul Zaentz (future
nemesis of John) bought Fantasy out in 66 and together with the band agreed to
find a new name. Tom had a pal whose workmate's name was Credence Nuball, he
threw that into the name hat. They added an extra E making it Creedence like a
creed, Clearwater came from a beer commercial, reminding them of purity and
Revival like a spoof old time revival show, and for John a revival in roots
rocking. An antidote to the other Bay area psychedlic caterwaulings. They played
an xmas eve gig in 67 as CCR

John went to college but in 66 Uncle Sam knocked, Doug and John became
reservists in the Coast Guard and Army respectively. John married and had a
child. By the time they started releasing material under the name Creedence in
1968, John was firmly in control of the band's musical direction. He wrote
Porterville in the army and it became CCR's first 45 in early 68, written under
the alias T Spicebush Swallowtail, it flopped but follow up Susie-Q reached
number 11 in Billboard and I Put A Spell On You made 52 before swamp gem Proud
Mary hit number 2 spawning later covers from their heroes Elvis and Ike & Tina!
Sunalike Bad Moon Rising and Green River all hit the 2 spot, Down On The Corner
reached 3, Little Richard inspired Travellin' Band hit 2, Up Around The Bend 4,
Lookin' Out My Back Door hit 2 making CCR one of the world's biggest bands
between 68 and 71. In the UK my 6/8d helped put the great Memphis sounding Bad
Moon Rising on Liberty at number one. Debut lp CCR reached a respectable 52 in
'68, whilst Bayou Country, Willy & the Poor Boys and Pendelum reached the top
10. Green River and Cosmo's Factory (with Ooby Dooby, My Baby Left Me and Before
You Accuse Me on it) reached number one. The band played Woodstock,
perfectionist John vetoed the band being in the film, costing the band big bucks
when the film and triple album were mega hits.

Only one Tom Fogerty composition, "Walk on the Water" (which had actually first
been recorded by the Gollis in 1966), would appear on a CCR album, credited to
both John and Tom under the joint composition agreement that held in the Golli
days. In early 1971, after five LPs and more than a half-dozen huge hit singles,
Tom left the band, fed up of playing rhythm guitar frustrated by the lack of
opportunity to sing and contribute his own material. No doubt a teeny bit
jealous of his younger sibling's place as Mr CCR too. The group would continue
for a trio for one final album before disbanding leading to years of biterness
and acrimony.When the band were elected to the RnR HOF, John only agreed to
appear on the final star jam if his former band mates were left out.

In subsequent years, Tom would often complain that his contributions to the
early days of CCR were overlooked, particularly as it had been he who had sung
lead on most of their recordings prior to 1966; he who wrote material with John
in the Golli days; and he who took care of much of the business end of the band
in the pre CCR era. That all may be true, and it may be that John did not go out
of way his way to give his brother credit for this. But the hard truth is that
the group would have never gotten anywhere if John had not stepped forward with
his songs, voice, and guitar playing; they would have been just another garage
and bar band. This would be emphasized, perhaps unintentionally, by the results
of Tom Fogerty's solo career.

Fogerty signed with Fantasy as a solo artist and nearly made the Top 100 with
his debut single, 1971's "Goodbye Media Man." His first album, 1972's
self-titled Tom Fogerty was the only one of his LPs to chart, topping out at
number 78. More important to note than his meagre chart performance, however, is
the meagre musical value of the solo recordings themselves. While at least not
blatant attempts to copy CCR they were unexceptional, pedestrian rock . As a
singer, Tom didn't sound much like his brother; actually, the problem was that
he didn't sound like anyone in particular, his lack of vocal power and
personality suggesting he was ill-suited for fronting a band or launching a solo
career in the first place. Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders played on some of
Fogerty's sessions, and Stu & Doug of CCR were the rhythm section on his 1973
album Zephyr National which also had some contributions from John. A single from
the album, "Joyful Resurrection," strongly echoed the vintage CCR sound and,
perhaps not coincidentally, was Tom Fogerty's best solo track.

Fogerty continued to record, to little sales or public acclaim, throughout the
1970s and 1980s. The other 3 former CCR members became increasingly estranged
from John in disputes over use of the CCR catalog and John's feuds with Fantasy
Records and their former financial advisers when the CCR monies vanished in an
off shore bank scam. By re-signing with Fantasy in the early '80s (he had left
for a couple of albums on PBR in the late '70s), Tom further alienated John
although all four band members managed to set aside their grievances and play
together one last time at Tom's wedding in 1980. The brothers, sadly, grew
further apart over the course of the 1980s before Tom died in 1990 of AIDS,
believed by his family to have resulted from blood transfusions he received
during operations for back trouble.



Recommended Reading:

Bad Moon Rising - the unoffical history of CCR by Hank Bodowitz.

The most depressing read about one of my all time heroes John Fogerty. Makes
Phil & Don's or Lennon & McCartney's bitterness seem like the Disney channel.
The wife of one CCR member calls their story the saddest in r'n'r and this book
pulls no punches.

AMG guide

Recommended listening:

The early Creedence albums when they were a quartet.

CCR/Bayou Country/Green River/Willy & the Poorboys/Cosmo's Factory and with
reservations Pendulum

Make sure you get these on the recentish digipak format, sound crisper than
earlier reissues.

Both volumes of Chronicle released via Ace are also recommended.

I'm not a fan of the Golliwogs stuff but it also is available, best bought on
the Complete CCR box set where you can listen to the good stuff as well. I
bought Tom's debut solo album when it came out, it was so disappointing that I
never checked out the rest of his stuff afterwards. Mind you if John had
released Hoodoo or Eye Of The Zombie first I would have deserted him too!