CCR Stuart Stu Cook

Woodstock alum

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee

April 25–Happy birthday!

CCR Stuart Stu Cook

Stuart’s Start

Stuart Alden Cook was born on April 25, 1945. His first instrument was the trumpet, but when he, John Fogerty, and Doug Clifford formed the Blue Velvets in high school, Cook switched to rhythm guitar.

At a point he bought a bass and decided that was the instrument for him. In a 2014 interview in Bassplayer, Cook said, “I liked bass—you played one note at a time, and you got paid as much as everybody else!”

CCR Stuart Stu Cook

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Creedence Clearwater Revival’s success was not an overnight one, but once it arrived the four members rode a tsunami of hits which included a performance at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in 1969.

Internal personnel issues arose and Creedence broke up in 1972. Stu Cook and Doug Clifford, friends since high school, formed a production company. They also joined the Don Harrison Band, which released two albums (1976, The Don Harrison Band  and Red Hot in 1977).

The performance of Creedence’s music had gone away. John Fogerty didn’t perform the music until the end of the 1980s and his estranged brother Tom died in 1990. 

Creedence Clearwater Revival was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, but “leader” John Fogerty in an unusual move did not invite Stu Cook or Cosmo Clifford to join him playing. John explained in a 2015 Rolling Stone article, “at the end, when everybody’s onstage, jamming, if we all happen to be onstage, that’s fine. I’m just not going to stand on a stage with those people, three in a row, play our songs, and be presented as a band — particularly because these guys just sold their rights in that band to my worst enemy. I also made it very clear that if I didn’t play at all, that was fine too.”

CCR Stuart Stu Cook

CCR forms

In 1995 Stu Cook and Doug Clifford formed Creedence Clearwater Revisited and after a court battle regarding the name continues as such today, a testament to the power and popularity of the music.

From AllMusic: Suffice it to say that these guys are singularly unlikely to ever be a major creative force (or even part of one) in rock music the way they were…, and the chance of anything new or fresh issuing forth from them is practically nil. But that’s also true of Chuck Berry and a lot of other names bigger than Cook or Clifford, and CCRevisited does put on a good show, and crowds looking for good-time rock & roll music enjoy them, the same way that Rob Grill & the Grass Roots or whatever version of “Herman’s Hermits” Peter Noone is fronting can pull 15,000 to an outdoor venue on a decent summer night. At least CCRevisited doesn’t pretend to be anything more than what it is, even if they’re not too much more than a flesh-and-blood jukebox.” 

CCR Stuart Stu Cook

Nowadays

From the CCR site, “About the current state of affairs Stu says, “There’s still some meat on the bone, baby.””

• • Related link >>> Milwaukee Business interview
  • Related link >>> Wikipedia entry

CCR Stuart Stu Cook

CCR Doug Cosmo Clifford

Woodstock alum

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee

Happy birthday…April 24, 1945

DG’s acceptance at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction 

One of the most common questions  Museum guests at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts ask me is, “What was your favorite group?” My polite answer is that that’s like asking me which is my favorite grandchild? Hopefully getting a chuckled response, I then say that the band whose 8-track I went home and bought was Creedence Clearwater Revival.  

In 1969 I didn’t get jamming. I loved albums and FM stations’ explorations, but when it came to a live performance I was looking for what I’d heard on the album. 

Creedence Clearwater Revival Woodstock performance fit that expectation. Great sound, tight playing, one hit after another. 

CCR Doug Cosmo Clifford

Blue Velvets

Doug Clifford, Doug “Cosmo” Clifford was CCR’s drummer and an original member of the band. In fact, it was John Fogerty, Doug Clifford, and Stu Cook who first formed a group without John’s older brother, Tom. The trio called themselves The Blue Velvets.

Golliwogs

In 1964, as a quartet with Tom, they signed with Fantasy Records as the Golliwogs. 

The band stalled in 1966 when both John and Doug received draft notices.  John Fogerty joined the Army Reserve;  Clifford the Coast Guard Reserve.

CCR

Things got back on track by 1968 after John Fogerty and Doug Clifford were discharged and the band became Creedence Clearwater Revival and released its first album, Creedence Clearwater Revival, on July 5 of that year.

 Some success in ’68 led to a breakout 1969: three hit albums and an invitation to the Woodstock Music and Art Fair. Their performance was, according to John Fogerty, subpar and that is the purported reason why he declined any inclusion from their set on the 1970 album. John blamed it on the audience. The Dead had preceded CCR and when CCR came on, John reportedly saw, “Dante scene, just bodies from hell, all intertwined and asleep, covered with mud,”

Stu Cook disagreed saying, ““The performances are classic CCR…”

Keep in mind that the Dead had closed with a rousing  39 minute rendition of Pigpen doing their classic “Turn On Your Lovelight.” And it was the middle of the night, so I’m not sure how John could have seen much at all.

End of CCR

In 1970, band tensions had its toll. Tom Fogerty left first and on October 16, 1972 Fantasy Records and the band officially announced the break up.

Doug Clifford solo

Doug Clifford released a solo album, Cosmo, and later joined Stu Cook in the Don Harrison Band.

Creedence Clearwater Revival was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.  Tom Fogerty had died in 1990, but the other three original members were there.

In 1995, Clifford and Cook formed the band Creedence Clearwater Revisited. John Fogerty challenged the name, but the courts decided in Clifford and Cook’s favor. The band has a Facebook page.

• Related link >>> Wikipedia entry

CCR Doug Cosmo Clifford