After more than 50 years, John Fogerty finally regained the publishing rights to his music in 2023. The legal battle began when his band signed with Fantasy Records, which was owned by Saul Zaentz. Once Fogerty realized the terms of the deal were unfair, he spent years trying to break free from the contract. In the 1980s, he relinquished his royalties to Zaentz and did not receive any money from the use of his songs for decades.
To celebrate owning his songs again, Fogerty announced a new album titled “Legacy”, which features new versions of classic Creedence Clearwater Revival tracks. The record is set to be released on August 22.
The first singles from the upcoming album have already been released: “Up Around the Bend,” “Have You Ever Seen the Rain,” and “Porterville.”
Hear the new John Fogerty versions for CCR songs
“Up Around the Bend”
“Have You Ever Seen The Rain”
“Porterville”
Back 1985, Fogerty was even sued by Zaentz for “self-plagiarism”, because his solo song “The Old Man Down The Road” had similarities with CCR’s classic track “Run Through The Jungle”. Fogerty won that case in court.
Besides being Creedence Clearwater Revival’s vocalist and guitarist, Fogerty was the band’s main songwriter. He wrote many classic tracks like “Proud Mary”, “Born On The Bayou”, “Green River”, “Commotion”, “Tombstone Shadow”, “Bad Moon Rising”, “Lodi”, “Sinister Purpose”, “Down On The Corner”, “It Came Out Of The Sky”, “Fortunate Son”, “Travelin’ Band”, “Up Around The Bend” and “Have You Ever Seen The Rain”.
