Tom Fogerty

Biography

Thomas Richard Fogerty (November 9, 1941 – September 6, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist for Creedence Clearwater Revival. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

Early life

Fogerty was born in Berkeley, California, one of five sons in a family of Irish descent. He grew up in nearby El Cerrito and attended Saint Mary's College High School in Berkeley, where he played on the football team. He also began singing rock and roll music with the Playboys, who played high school dances, his signature song being Bobby Freeman's "Do You Want to Dance." This attracted the attention of Spider Webb and the Insects, a top local group, who asked him to join. In 1959, the group signed a recording contract with Del-Fi Records shortly after Fogerty graduated from high school, but the group dissolved later that year, their single "Lyda Jane" never seeing release.

Creedence Clearwater Revival

After the breakup of Spider Webb and the Insects, Tom began performing as a solo artist. Tom's younger brother John had his own band, the Blue Velvets, who began backing Tom, and Tom later joined the band. Tommy Fogerty & the Blue Velvets recorded three singles, with Tom on lead vocals, for Orchestra Records in 1961 and 1962. During this era, Tom sometimes used the pseudonym "Rann Wild" for songwriting credits while John used "Toby Green". By 1964, the group had signed with Fantasy Records, who renamed the band the Golliwogs, with Tom and John sharing lead vocal duties. In 1967, John quit his job with the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, adding his savings to the collective pool of funds used to keep the band afloat. That same year, the band was redubbed Creedence Clearwater Revival, with John as the lead singer and sole songwriter, prompting Tom to begin improving his rudimentary guitar skills.
Although Tom's Golliwogs-era collaboration with John, "Walk on the Water", appeared on CCR's debut album, the subsequent lack of vocal and songwriting opportunities, compounded by longstanding animosity toward his brother, led Tom to leave the band in early 1971 after the completion of Pendulum. Though the band's press release characterized the split as amicable, Tom was frustrated by his brother's monopolization of the group's creativity and decision-making, lamenting that he simply became "just the guy who stood there and played rhythm guitar. So after we were into our sixth platinum album, I thought maybe I could do a little singing. But John was not going to change things, so I split."

Solo career

After leaving CCR, Fogerty began a solo career. His debut release, the April 1971 single "Goodbye Media Man×Goodbye Media Man1971 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksA:Goodbye Media Man, Part 13:25B:Goodbye Media Man, Part 22:45" did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100, though it reached No. 3 on the Bubbling Under chart and No. 93 on the Cash Box singles chart. Robert Christgau of The Village Voice disliked the song, calling it "unextraordinary musically, simplistic lyrically, and also Tom doesn't sing too good". His May 1972 debut album, Tom Fogerty, reached No. 180 on the Billboard 200 chart.
In 1971 and 1972 Fogerty played rhythm guitar in the Saunders-Garcia band, mostly in Bay Area clubs, and Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders played on Fogerty's follow-up album, Excalibur×ExcaliburOctober 1972 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Forty Years3:45A2Black Jack Denny2:30A3Rocky Road Blues3:50A4Faces, Place, People3:50A5Get Funky1:50B1Sick and Tired4:18B2Sign for the Devil2:35B3Straight and Narrow3:45B4Next in Line2:13B5(Hold on) Annie Mae3:48. Fogerty's former CCR bandmates Stu Cook and Doug Clifford performed on the 1974 follow-up album, Zephyr National×Zephyr NationalApril 1974 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1It's Been A Good Day2:15A2Can You Feel It, Ras?1:55A3Mystic Isle Avalon2:25A4Reggie2:03A5Money (Root The Root)2:31B1Hor Buttered Rum1:53B2Joyful Resurrection3:35B3Heartbeat2:11B4Fate2:55B5Goin' Back To Okeefenokee3:11, which spawned the single "Joyful Resurrection×Joyful ResurrectionAugust 1973 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAJoyful Resurrection3:37BHeartbeat2:11", which reached No. 84 on the Cash Box singles chart. "Mystic Isle Avalon×Mystic Isle AvalonNovember 1973 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAMystic Isle Avalon2:27BReggie2:01" was the last recording to feature all four former CCR members, though John Fogerty recorded his lead guitar separately. Cook and Clifford also backed Fogerty on his fourth LP, 1974's Myopia×MyopiaNovember 1974 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Give Me Another Trojan Song2:59A2What Did I Know2:35A3Theme From Four-D3:11A4Sweet Things to Come2:11A5What About Tomorrow4:23B1She La La La3:01B2And I Love You2:23B3Get Up2:07B4There Was a Time3:09B5Show Down2:35.
Throughout the rest of the 1970s and 1980s, Fogerty continued to record as both a solo artist and as a member of Ruby. At his October 1980 wedding reception, all four members of CCR reunited and performed for the first time in a decade. They took the stage for the final time at a school reunion three years later. Fogerty's final project was the album Sidekicks×Sidekicks1993 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Rainbow Corousel7:412Money Buys It (Funky Side of Town)3:013Video Girl4:414Woman of the Year4:145Clearwater Rain3:036Teardrops4:037We've Been Here Before4:268Sometimes4:429Sloop John B.4:4210Unbearable Lightness of Being4:04, recorded in 1988 with Ruby bandmate Randy Oda, though not released until 1992.

Personal life and death

At the age of 18, Fogerty married his high school sweetheart Gail Skinner, and they had four children before divorcing. In 1980, he married Tricia Clapper, and they settled in Scottsdale, Arizona, where Fogerty died of tuberculosis on September 6, 1990. In the time leading up to his death, Fogerty suffered from AIDS, which his family believed he contracted from a blood transfusion he received while undergoing back surgery. He had six children.
From Tom's departure from the band in 1971 until his death, his relationship with his brother John was strained, woven into the complex legal and personal battles that John had with Fantasy Records owner Saul Zaentz. Tom's continued association with Zaentz, and even taking his side in lawsuits, business disputes, and retrospective analyses of the band's difficulties, led to an irreconcilable impasse in their relationship. According to John's autobiography, Fortunate Son, he visited Tom several times shortly before his death, though they only barely reconciled during John's final visit. John later eulogized him at his funeral, saying, "We didn't want to conquer Wall Street or take over nations. We wanted to grow up and be musicians. I guess we achieved half of that, becoming rock and roll stars. We didn't necessarily grow up."