Older Brother Tom Fogerty

November 9, 1941 – September 6, 1990

Creedence Clearwater Revival’s John Fogerty could certainly write hits:

Green River Fortunate Son Born on the Bayou Proud Mary Who’ll Stop the Rain

Bad Moon Rising Lookin’ Out My Back door Down on the Corner Have You Ever Seen the Rain Up Around the Bend

…and many many more. At a time when so-called underground FM radio station bands were making concept albums, CCR stuck with the older format churning out albums full of songs that typically stayed within AM radio’s strictures of under 4 minutes and more often under three minutes.

Unfortunately, John’s success overshadowed the artistic hopes of the other band members like his older brother, Tom.

Older Brother Tom Fogerty

Background

Tom Fogerty was born in Berkeley, California.  He formed a band, Spider Webb and the Insects, that Del-Fi Records signed in 1959.  Spider Webb only recorded one song for the label, “Lyda Jane,” but it was never released and the group broke up shortly thereafter.

Tom joined John’s band, the Blue Velvets, in 1960. The Blue Velvets had limited local success in the San Francisco Bay area.

The four signed with Fantasy Records in 1964. There they were briefly the Visions, the Golliwogs,  and finally, in late 1967, Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Older Brother Tom Fogerty

Stardom

That elusive success suddenly exploded upon them: between July 1968 and December 1970, Creedence released six albums and top 10 hit after hit. The band was more a back up for John than a collaboration. Tom, the original front singer and whose own compositions were hardly included in the band’s albums, led to his leaving the band in 1971.

Post Creedence

Solo

He signed a solo deal with Fantasy in 1972 and released the first of his solo albums, Tom Fogerty, in 1972.  His other albums were:

• Excalibur (1972)

• Zephyr National (1974)

• Myopia (1974)

• Deal It Out (1981)

Ruby band

According to Wikipedia, Ruby was an American rock band that between 1976 and 1984 recorded three albums, Ruby, Rock & Roll Madness and Precious Gems.

Personnel were:

• Tom Fogerty – guitar, harmonica, vocals
• Randy Oda – guitar, keyboards, vocals
• Anthony Davis – bass, vocals
• Bobby Cochran – drums, percussions, vocals

Albums:

• Ruby (1976)

• Rock and Roll Madness (1976)

• Precious Gems  (1984)

With Randy Oda

• Sidekicks  (released posthumously in 1992)

Best of…

• The Very Best of Tom Fogerty (1999)

None had any of the commercial success that CCR had. CCR itself broken up by 1972, many say due to John’s continued insistence that all band-related issues be his to decide.

Health

Tom moved to Scottsdale, Arizona in the ‘80s. He underwent back surgery, but an unscreened blood transfusion infected him with the AIDS virus. It led to his death, officially of tuberculosis, on Sept. 6, 1990.

He was 48. The LA Times obituary had 116 words. The NY Times had 93. A search of the Rolling Stone Magazine site revealed no obituary.

Older Brother Tom Fogerty

Retrospective

In a July 18, 2014 interview in Uncut, band bassist Stu Cook  said, “Tom had put up with a lot of shit from John. I think Tom was expecting John to say, ‘OK, now we’ve achieved our goals, why don’t you start singing a few of the songs?’ Tom had a great voice, kinda like Ritchie Valens. Tom would have done a damn good job on ‘La Bamba’. But John didn’t want him to sing it, in case we had a hit with it. He didn’t want Tom to succeed.”

The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. One of the most infamous inductions of any band in the Hall’s history. According to The History of Tom Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival from the Ultimate Classic Rock site:  When Creedence Clearwater Revival was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame…Tom Fogerty’s widow brought his ashes in an urn. John, however, refused to share the stage with his former bandmates.

The feud between the remaining three band mates (though obviously “mates” is not the word to use) continues.

Older Brother Tom Fogerty

Here Stands the Clown

Here stands the clown
Spotlight currents all around
We don’t see that that clown is me
Here stands the clown

Here stands the fool
Locomotion layin’ down the rules
We don’t see that that fool is me
Here stands the fool

Here stands the man
Close the book he made with his own hands
We don’t see that that man is me
Here stands the man

Older Brother Tom Fogerty