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Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty – whose hits included the 1978 classic ‘Baker Street’ and ‘Stuck in the Middle with You’ with Stealers Wheel – has died at the age of 63 after a long illness.
Comedian Billy Connolly paid tribute to his friend and former singing partner: “Gerry Rafferty was a hugely talented songwriter and singer who will be greatly missed. I was privileged to have spent my formative years working with Gerry and there remained a strong bond of friendship between us that lasted until his untimely death.
“Gerry had extraordinary gifts and his premature passing deprives the world of a true genius”.
Gerald “Gerry” Rafferty was born on 16 April 1947 into a working-class family in Paisley, Scotland, the son and grandson of coal miners.
Inspired by his Scottish mother who taught him Irish and Scottish folk songs as a boy, and heavily influenced by the music of The Beatles and Bob Dylan, he started to write his own material.
In the mid-1960s, Rafferty earned money for a time busking on the London Underground – an experience that is said to have inspired his song ‘Baker Street’.
In 1969, he became the third member of folk-pop duo The Humblebums which featured Billy Connolly and Tam Harvey. Harvey left shortly afterwards and Rafferty and Connolly went on to record two acclaimed albums for Transatlantic Records, including singles such as ‘Shoeshine Boy’ and ‘Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway’.
Connolly and Rafferty decided to go their separate ways in 1971 and Transatlantic Records signed Rafferty as a solo artist. He enjoyed critical success but wasn’t able to break into the charts. Then, in 1972, he teamed up with his old friend Joe Egan to form Stealers Wheel and success finally came with ‘Stuck in the Middle with You’. The track was later used prominently in the 1992 movie Reservoir Dogs.
After Stealers Wheel split up in 1975, legal disputes meant that Rafferty was unable to release any new material for three years. In 1978, he recorded his second solo album, City to City, which included ‘Baker Street’, the song with which he is most identified. The single reached No. 3 in the UK and No. 2 in the United States.
His follow-up album Night Owl (1979) reached Number 9 on the UK album chart and Snakes and Ladders (1980) peaked at Number 15. But subsequent studio albums between 1982 and 2000 could not match the success of these albums and Rafferty spent his later years fighting alcoholism and depression.
In November 2010, he was admitted to hospital in Bournemouth, suffering from liver failure. He died at home on 4 January 2011, of liver disease.
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Tags: Baker Street, Billy Connolly, digital magazine, digital music magazine, Gerry Rafferty, iTunes, Joe Egan, music magazine, over-50s, over-50s music magazine, over-50s social network, pensions, Reservoir Dogs, retirement, Sh-Boom, Sh-Boom Magazine, Sh-Boom social network, Sh-Boom! digital magazine, Stealers Wheel, Stuck in the Middle with You, The Humblebums, Transatlantic Records
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