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Gerry Rafferty RIP

Just happened to see this note a few moments ago from a friend. Darn.

I know Gerry and Joe Egan's Stealer's Wheel weren't Americana, but they brought an acoustic-folk sound to AM radio with their music, and it was back at a time when many types of sounds and musical styles were available to hear on the radio...before the suits messed it up.

Here's the news (and I'll drop some videos in the comments section):

Gerry Rafferty Dead At 63

By Paul Cashmere

Scottish singer Gerry Rafferty, best known for the hits ‘Baker Street’ and ‘Stuck In The Middle With You’, has died after a long illness with liver disease.

Rafferty started out in a band called the Humblebums with comedian Billy Connolly.

In 1972, he recorded his first solo album and had his first hit with ‘Can I Have My Money Back’.

Next, he teamed with buddy Joe Egan and formed Stealers Wheel. The recent, another global hit with ‘Stuck In The Middle With You’ that was used in 1992 in the movie Reservoir Digs.

Rafferty’s big moment was the 1978 album ‘City To City’ and the song ‘Baker Street’. The single reached no. 1 in Australia, no. 2 in the USA and no. 3 in the UK. The album sold 5.5 million copies. It became Rafferty’s pension plan with reports he was still earning more than $150,000 from its royalties.

In August 2008, it was reported that Rafferty had disappeared after being cared for suffering a chronic liver condition. A missing persons report was never filed but it wasn’t until February 2009 that a statement was issued to say he had been staying in Tuscany for the previous six months.

In November 2009, he released his final album ‘Life Goes On’.

Rafferty was taken to hospital in November 2010 in Bournemouth, Dorset but was given little chance at that point and taken off life support. He died 4 January 2011.

Tags: Gerry Rafferty, Steelers Wheel

Comment by Jack on January 4, 2011 at 3:14pm: Stealers Wheel - "clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am"....reminds of the last election. No, not exactly Americana. Maybe Americana-ish?

Gerry did some interesting, if way over produced, records. Baker Street off City To City was a monster but there was a lot more after that. Night Owl was a very good record, Get It Right Next Time was a tune a I really enjoyed off that one. I lost track of him after North and South, which was a late 80's record I believe. There was one song on that one, A Dangerous Age that could have been a Springsteen song, great guitars and a driving pace. Always wondered what his records would have sounded like without the glossy sheen, but I enjoyed them anyway.

Comment by Easy Ed on January 4, 2011 at 3:29pm

Comment by Easy Ed on January 4, 2011 at 3:34pm

Comment by Easy Ed on January 4, 2011 at 3:36pm

Comment by Hal Bogerd on January 4, 2011 at 3:38pm: R.I.P. Mr. Rafferty (and I'm feeling old)....there was a time, a long time ago, when you couldn't go into a bar and not hear "Baker Street".

Comment by Easy Ed on January 4, 2011 at 3:46pm

Comment by Hal Bogerd on January 4, 2011 at 4:12pm: Now I'm having a flashback: eating Buffalo Wings and drinking a Molson at BJ's with Baker Street playing.

Thanks Ed!

Comment by Jack on January 4, 2011 at 5:21pm: Hal, I wasn't too far from you back then, and doing much the same where wings and Molson came together...we heard the song both ways almost every trip between Amherst and Kissing Bridge for a couple of months, then again at the lodge. Just read the Wikipedia write up on Baker St., said the sax solo was a chance thing, it was supposed to be a guitar solo...and it only hit #2, surprising given it was always on te radio. Great tune. Enjoyed his music. Sad, he was too young.

Comment by Kyla Fairchild on January 4, 2011 at 7:09pm: Here's a link to an informative obituary from the Guardian.

Ed, thanks for posting the video of Stuck In The Middle With You. When I saw the post I didn't know who Gerry Rafferty was. But that song, I loved that song. I would have been 9 when it was released and my mom had the AM radio playing in the kitchen all day long as I was growing up and that song was one of my favorites along with Seasons In the Sun! I've been a sucker for well crafted pop tunes ever since.

Comment by L A Johnson on January 4, 2011 at 11:18pm: Sad news - the first Stealers Wheel record was a high point in my opnion - listen to 'Next To Me' an unknown classic pop song.