If writing a batch of rock's most exhilarating hit singles is a good way to gain admission to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, becoming entangled in high-profile lawsuits brings a different kind of immortality. John Fogerty has achieved both. Weirdly, even tragically, his solo career has been marred by his involvement in a string of legal disputes with his erstwhile record label, Fantasy, and clashes with his ex-bandmates from Creedence Clearwater Revival, of which he was the lynchpin until it split in 1972. It remains to be seen whether he will be remembered for his music or his lawsuits.
Fogerty, 55, is now sweeping across Europe supporting Tina Turner on her farewell tour. But he remains an ambiguous figure. During his heyday in Creedence Clearwater Revival it was he who wrote the band's hits, from Proud Mary (1969) to their last million-seller, Sweet Hitch-Hiker (1971). Since then, his solo career has produced gems such as Centerfield (1985) and Blue Moon Swamp (1997), both of which have demonstrated Fogerty's knack for concocting songs that are "about as contrived as the weather", as critic Greil Marcus put it.
But a total of six albums in 27 years (only five of them comprising new material) seems a barely adequate return from so legendary a performer. For when Fogerty should have been in the studio, he was consulting lawyers or sitting in court.
"I have had a lot of trouble with Fantasy Records. " Fogerty told me while promoting the release of Blue Moon Swamp. "In 1988 I had to go through a plagiarism trial where I was sued for sounding like myself, and people tell me this was unprecedented. I spent more than three years trying to resolve these issues, but sadly it didn't work."
In the bizarre self-plagiarism case, Fantasy and its boss Saul Zaentz claimed that Fogerty's 1985 song Old Man Down the Road was merely his old Creedence song, Run Through the Jungle, with a new title. The label wouldn't have been able to bring the suit if Fogerty hadn't sold them the rights to his old material, something any aspiring pop star would be strenuously advised not to do in these more artist friendly days. Fogerty won the case, but then had to jump through further legal hoops to win back $1.35m dollars in costs.
While countless musicians, from George Michael to Spandau Ballet, have found themselves in litigation with managers, record companies or each other, they have eventually reached some sort of conclusion, even if they're not very happy with it. But Fogerty seems doomed never to achieve the outcome he thinks he deserves. The problems date right back to Creedence Clearwater's original contract with Fantasy.
"We were the only artists that mattered on the label. We were selling almost 99.9% of the company's records. We had signed a contract thinking we were all in it equally. I thought we would share to a great degree in the company's success. But then it didn't happen. Fantasy own the songs and they're supposed to pay me as the songwriter, but I've had to fight to get royalties from 1980 and every year after that. Basically, to get paid I had to sue them, that was their stance."
After Creedence split, Fogerty found himself bound to Fantasy as a solo artist. His awareness that he was a bankable asset at the peak of his powers merely increased his sense of outrage. "I felt like I was their little prisoner in their dungeon, their little mouse in a cage that they played with," he shuddered. "To take somebody that was at their height, like Elvis or The Beatles, and then treat them so badly is really a horrible thing."
During the late 70s and early 80s, he grew so sick of it all that he abandoned music and lived with his family on a farm in Oregon. Then in 1985, he re-emerged with a new record deal with Warner Bros and the album Centerfield. It looked as if he'd turned a corner - until the plagiarism lawsuit came along.
That was not the worst of it. In 1990, his brother Tom died from respiratory failure following a long struggle with tuberculosis. The five Fogerty boys had been brought up by their single mother in California, and Tom had been Creedence's rhythm guitarist, but not even their family bond could survive John's feelings of betrayal. "Tom ended up over the years evolving mentally into some sort of weird Patti Hearst syndrome," said John. "That's what I call it when they kidnap you and you end up siding with your captors, and that's what Tom did. In some trick of mental agility, he ended up befriending Saul Zaentz against me. By the end of his life Tom was saying 'Saul is my best friend'. He even wrote me nasty letters saying things like 'Saul and I will win'. It was very unresolved and very sad."
How does he remember Tom? "I have very confused feelings for my brother because there was a time when things were happy. The best I can say in Tom's case is he was the older brother and the younger brother had a lot more talent, therefore he was jealous even to a greater degree than the other two in Creedence Clearwater Revival."
Tom's death didn't soften John's attitude towards the other band members. In 1993, when Creedence were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Fogerty refused to allow drummer Doug Clifford and bassist Stu Cook to perform with him at the traditional end-of-ceremony jam. Cook and Clifford have responded by forming Creedence Clearwater Revisited and going on the road playing the old Fogerty hits, though he has tried to throw a spanner in the works. In 1996, he sued Cook and Clifford, seeking to prevent the use of the Creedence Clearwater name. He won a temporary injunction, but the band are now using their chosen name again, and toured Germany last month.
It saddens Stu Cook. "I'm sure that doctors have all kinds of names for this sort of behaviour," he commented. "It's the saddest story in rock and one of the longest ongoing stupid feuds."
Meanwhile, Fogerty has become a litigation junkie. At the end of last year, he even sued his former attorney Kenneth Sidle, who had helped him to win back his costs following the plagiarism case. John Fogerty should be remembered as a great songwriter. Instead, he risks becoming better known as an appellant in textbooks of precedent-setting case law.
John Fogerty appears with Tina Turner at Wembley on Saturday and Sunday. Box office: 020-8902 0902.