SAUL ZAENTZ
Saul Zaentz (February 28, 1921 – January 3, 2014) was an American film producer and former record company executive. He won the Academy Award for Best Picture three times and in 1996 was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. In 1955 he joined Fantasy Records, for many years the largest independent jazz record label in the world. In 1967 Zaentz and other partners purchased the label from founders Max and Sol Weiss. The partners signed roots-rock group Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR), fronted by former Fantasy warehouseman John Fogerty. (More from Wikipedia)
Another tragic example is that of Creedence Clearwater Revival; their recording contract with Fantasy Records is widely regarded as the worst ever of any major recording artist in this country.
John Fogerty refused to perform any of his Creedence Clearwater Revival songs for many years in order to prevent any future proceeds from going to Fantasy Records owner Saul Zaentz, and this naturally hampered his efforts to start a solo career in the early 1970's. Ultimately, John Fogerty signed away all of his rights to the Creedence material in the mid-1970's, in exchange for being able to get out from under the CCR's onerous recording contract – the band still owed the label eight (!) more albums at that point.
When David Geffen's Asylum Records purchased his recording contract for $1,000,000 from Fantasy Records (later joined by Warner Bros. Records) – though those rights applied only for North America; Fogerty's worldwide rights remained with Fantasy – John Fogerty finally was able to re-establish himself as a major rock artist with his 1985 hit album Centerfield. Fogerty couldn't resist tweaking his old nemesis Saul Zaentz at Fantasy with two other tracks, "Mr. Greed" and "Zanz Kant Danz" (about a pig who can't dance but would "steal your money"); after a while, he was forced to change the name of the latter song to "Vanz Kant Danz".
Saul Zaentz perhaps sought revenge by suing John Fogerty for $1,000,000 over another hit single from the same album, "The Old Man Down the Road", alleging that the song basically had the same chorus as the 1970 Creedence Clearwater Revival song "Run through the Jungle" – essentially, Fogerty was being sued for plagiarizing himself! After John Fogerty was able to establish in court that the two were separate songs, he then counter-sued Saul Zaentz for his legal expenses – a case that went all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court.
(January 2013)
