FANS of swamp rock and bayou ballads can 
clamber aboard the riverboat with Creedence and 
Beyond and take a cruise through the 
extraordinary life of singer-songwriter John 
Fogerty.

With record sales of more than 100 million albums 
and a host of hit songs covered by everyone from 
street artists to symphony orchestras, Fogerty was 
the creative heart of the legendary Creedence 
Clearwater Revival.

He is one of the most prolific and successful 
musicians of the modern era, but it has been 
anything but plain sailing.

Most of his fans remain unaware of the 
remarkable, sometimes heart-rending, details of 
his journey from obscurity to the top of the charts, 
then to oblivion and back again.

The story of how swamp music shared the 
spotlight with Elvis and The Beatles unfolds during 
the slick stage show put together for audiences at 
Creedence and Beyond concerts. 

Tight musicianship, lush harmonies and audience 
rapport are the hallmarks of their shows, anchored 
around the extraordinary vocals of Steve 
Champion, whose mirror-image of Fogerty's 
distinctive voice has amazed fans for more than a 
decade.

Other band members include:
* Zak Flack (guitars), who has spent 20 years 
studying the sounds and structures John Fogerty 
uses to weave his magic, and has played gigs from
Tamworth to the Tivoli. He honed his craft 
cranking out eight shows a week aboard the 
legendary cruise ship Fairstar.

* Gary Jelfs (guitars) is an acoustics whiz who is 
just as much at home at the mixing desk as he is 
with his trusty Fender in hand. Between studio and 
stage, `Gazza' has backed just about every major 
artist Australia has produced.

* Archie Ensor (bass, vocals) is a multi-
instrumentalist who can play anything from lead 
guitar to drums. His vocal harmonies are pivotal to 
the band's characteristic sound. A master of styles 
from reggae to rock'n'roll, Archie's credits include 
an invitation to play for the Royal Family in Fiji.

* Mark Langfield (drums) has sat on his stool 
behind the likes of Australian icons Angry 
Anderson and Doug Parkinson. Langs also runs his 
own successful sound hire business and is a 
sought-after drum teacher.

* Steve Stickney (narrator, vocals) has been 
booked for gigs as disparate as a private lunch for 
England's infamous Great Train Robber Ronnie 
Biggs in Rio de Janeiro, right up to a howling 
crowd of 80,000 people in Taman Ria in the 
Indonesian capital of Jakarta. `Stix' speaks fluent 
Indonesian and has performed in more than a 
dozen overseas countries.

Between them, the band has more than a century 
of combined experience in live performance, so 
expect top-draw entertainment. Creedence and 
Beyond know the business as well as anyone 
across the continent. 

They also like to link their tunes with a thread of 
often ribald commentary and are famous for 
engaging the crowd, so if you are the least bit shy 
about getting involved, better not pick a spot right 
up the front.