Fantasy deal reunites Fogerty with his songs
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) – John Fogerty laughs when he says his next album of new material will be on Fantasy Records. “That’s a phrase I never thought I’d say,” he notes with glee.
In a turn of events almost impossible to believe, due to Concord Records’ acquisition of Fantasy, the singer/songwriter has been reunited with the catalog of his rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival after a 30-plus-year battle. And he has signed a long-term deal for his future recordings with the label.
In a well-told tale, Fogerty fought for years with former Fantasy owner Saul Zaentz, who went so far as to sue Fogerty for plagiarizing himself. Fantasy owns the masters to such CCR classics as “Proud Mary,” “Bad Moon Rising” and “Fortunate Son.”
To buy his freedom from Fantasy, to which he owed at least 30 more albums, Fogerty struck a deal that meant he would never receive artist royalties from CCR recordings.
For years Fogerty was so embittered by the fight with Zaentz that he refused to perform the hits live, although he has for several years now.
When Concord first contemplated buying Fantasy late last year, Fogerty and his manager/wife Julie approached the label, initially just to say, “I’m the guy who wrote all the music you’re thinking of purchasing,” he says.
After the $80 million deal closed early this year, Fogerty’s talks with Concord resumed, resulting not only in collaboration on his beloved catalog but on new material. Fogerty was without a label after Universal’s purchase of DreamWorks a few years ago.
INVITED TO THE TABLE
“The folks at Concord really had respect for my work. That was quite different for me,” he says. “For 35 years I’ve been treated like a hired hand that kind of snuck his way into the dinner table, and that wasn’t very nice.”
The reunion with his babies — his songs — has left him delighted and filled with many emotions. “I just had no reason to even dare hope this could happen,” he says. “That’s my first emotion. But No. 2 is that it shouldn’t have been that way in the first place. But I’m not going to dwell on that one for very long because I spent so many years feeling like it was wrong. I’m just going to accept what it is and be very, very happy about it.”
One of Concord’s first moves was to offer to pay Fogerty artist royalties on his CCR material going forward. The checks should start rolling in after the release of his first complete career retrospective, “The Long Road Home,” out November 1.
A live DVD, taped September 15 in Los Angeles, will follow. Then, Fogerty says, he will turn to writing new material.
Concord president Glen Barros says he knows his label cannot fix the past for Fogerty, but he believes it can create a happy future. “A big part of that was reuniting him with what he did with CCR. While we’re looking forward to his new music, we also want to make sure we promote the great body of work. Now he can feel good about everything he can do with this music.”
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