Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR), or simply Creedence, was an American rock band formed in El Cerrito, California, in 1968. 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 1968. 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 1972 after four years of chart-topping success. Tom had quit the band at the end of 1970 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 after the group's breakup. John's disagreements with Fantasy Records owner Saul Zaentz led to more court cases, and he refused to perform with the two other surviving members of the band—Tom had died in 1990—at Creedence's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. 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 sales of at least 12 million copies in the U.S.
History Early career: The Blue Velvets (1959–1964) 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 also released three singles, the second of which was picked up by Casey Kasem, who worked at KEWB in 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.
Vision and the Golliwogs (1964–1967) 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, all issued between 1964 and 1966, were credited to the writing team of Wild/Green.
In 1966, John Fogerty and Doug Clifford were drafted into the U.S. armed forces; Fogerty joined the U.S. Army Reserve, while Clifford joined the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. Speaking of the incessant marching he experienced in the US Army, Fogerty has said: "I would become delirious and go into a trance. And I started narrating this story to myself, which was the song 'Porterville'." John Fogerty eventually took control of the group, singing lead vocals and blossoming into a multi-instrumentalist who played keyboards, harmonica, and saxophone in addition to lead guitar. By 1967, he was producing the group's recordings, although without credit. The group's final single, "Porterville," failed to chart (like every other Golliwogs recording), but the same recording was reissued soon after as a track on Creedence Clearwater Revival's first album.
Name change to Creedence Clearwater Revival (1968–1969) In 1967, Saul Zaentz bought Fantasy Records and offered the band a chance to record an album. Having hated the name "the Golliwogs" from the start, the band decided on their own name, Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR), which they formally assumed in January 1968. According to interviews with the band members, the name's elements came from three sources: Tom Fogerty's friend Credence Newball, whose name they changed to form the word Creedence (as in creed); a television commercial for Olympia Brewing Company ("clear water"); and the four members' renewed commitment to their band. Rejected contenders for the band's name included "Muddy Rabbit," "Gossamer Wump," and "Creedence Nuball and the Ruby;" the last was the starting point, though, from which the band derived its final name. Cook described the name as "weirder than Buffalo Springfield or Jefferson Airplane." In early 1968, the band began appearing regularly at clubs and venues in the San Francisco area, including Deno and Carlo's, the Avalon Ballroom and the Fillmore West. Later that year, the group began touring across the US and made their first appearances in New York City at the Fillmore East.
By 1968, AM radio programmers around the U.S. took note when CCR's cover of the 1956 rockabilly song "Susie Q" received substantial airplay in the San Francisco Bay area and on Chicago's WLS-AM. It was the band's second single, its first to reach the top 40 (number 11), and its only top-40 hit not written by John Fogerty. Two other singles were released from their May 1968 self-titled debut album, a cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You" (number 58) and "Porterville" (released on the Scorpio label with writing credited to "T. Spicebush Swallowtail"), written during Fogerty's time in the Army Reserve.
Peak success (1969–1970)
After their breakthrough, CCR began touring and started work on their second album, Bayou Country, at RCA Studios in Los Angeles. It was released in January 1969. A number-seven platinum hit, the record was their first in a string of hit albums and singles that continued uninterruptedly for two years. The single "Proud Mary," backed with "Born on the Bayou," reached number two on the national Billboard chart. The former eventually became the group's most covered song, with over 100 versions by other artists to date, including the number 4 hit by Ike & Tina Turner in 1971, two years to the week after the original peaked. John cites this song as being the result of the euphoria he experienced on gaining his discharge from the Army Reserve. The album also featured a cover of the rock and roll classic "Good Golly, Miss Molly" and the band's nine-minute live-show closer, "Keep On Chooglin'."
Months later, in April 1969, "Bad Moon Rising" backed with "Lodi" was released and peaked at number 2 in the US. In the United Kingdom, "Bad Moon Rising" spent three weeks at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart during September and October 1969, becoming the band's only number-one single in the UK. The band's third album, Green River, which followed in August 1969, was their first album to top the Billboard 200 and went gold, along with the single "Green River," which also reached number 2 on the Billboard charts. "Commotion," the B-side of "Green River," peaked at number 30, and the band's emphasis on covers of old favorites continued with "Night Time Is the Right Time."
CCR continued to tour frequently, with performances in July 1969 at the Atlanta Pop Festival and in August 1969 at the Woodstock Festival. At Woodstock, the band took the stage in the early morning, hours after their scheduled start-time. They followed the Grateful Dead, who John claimed had put the audience to sleep. As he scanned the audience he saw a "Dante scene, just bodies from hell, all intertwined and asleep, covered with mud." In addition to the low-energy crowd, the band also experienced issues with their equipment and lighting, resulting in Fogerty vetoing their inclusion in the Woodstock film or soundtrack. Doug Cook, however, praised their set, saying, "The performances are classic CCR, and I'm still amazed by the number of people who don't even know we were one of the headliners at Woodstock '69."
After Woodstock, CCR were busy honing material for a fourth album, Willy and the Poor Boys, their second top-three LP. It was released in November 1969. "Down on the Corner" and "Fortunate Son," both of which they performed on The Ed Sullivan Show on November 16, 1969, climbed to number 3 and number 14, respectively, by year's end. The album featured Fogerty originals and two reworked Lead Belly covers, "Cotton Fields" and "Midnight Special." The year 1969 had been remarkable for the band - three top-10 albums, four hit singles (three charting at number 2, and one at number 3) with three additional charting B-sides.
CCR released another double A-side hit, "Travelin' Band"/"Who'll Stop the Rain," in January 1970. The up-tempo "Travelin' Band," with a strong Little Richard sound, bore enough similarities to "Good Golly, Miss Molly" to warrant a lawsuit by the song's publisher; it was eventually settled out of court. The song ultimately topped out at number 2. The band also recorded its January 31, 1970, live performance at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, which was later marketed as a live album and television special. In February, CCR was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone, with John being interviewed in the accompanying article.
In April 1970, CCR were set to begin their first European tour. To support the upcoming live dates, John wrote "Up Around the Bend" and "Run Through the Jungle;" both sides of the single reached number 4 that spring. The band returned to Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco in June to record Cosmo's Factory. The album contained the earlier released top-10 hits "Travelin' Band" and "Up Around the Bend," plus popular album tracks such as the opener "Ramble Tamble."
Cosmo's Factory was released in July 1970, remaining at number 1 on the album charts in the US for nine weeks. It was released along with the band's fifth and final number 2 national hit, "Lookin' Out My Back Door"/"Long as I Can See the Light." Although they topped some international charts and local radio countdowns, CCR have the distinction of having had five number-two singles without ever having had a number-one on the Hot 100, the most of any group to date. Their five number-two singles were exceeded only by Madonna (six), Taylor Swift (ten), and Drake (thirteen), and tied with Elvis Presley and the Carpenters. Conversely, on station WLS-AM, the band had three number-ones, four number-threes, and two number-fours, but no number-two singles, with "Down on the Corner" the only top-10 CCR single registering the same peak position (number 3) on the Hot 100 and on WLS.
Other cuts on the Cosmo's Factory album included an 11-minute jam of Marvin Gaye’s 1968 cover of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (a minor hit for CCR when an edited version was released as a single in 1976), and a nearly note-for-note homage to Roy Orbison's "Ooby Dooby." The album was their biggest seller, going to number 1 on the Billboard 200 album charts and number 11 on Billboard Soul Albums chart.