Gerald "
Gerry" Rafferty (16
April 1947 -- 4
January 2011) was a
Scottish singer-songwriter best known for his solo hits "
Baker Street" and "
Right Down the Line", and with the band
Stealers Wheel, "
Stuck in the Middle with You".
Rafferty was born into a working-class family in
Paisley, Renfrewshire,
Scotland. His mother taught him both
Irish and
Scottish folk songs as a boy; later, he was influenced by the music of
The Beatles and
Bob Dylan. He joined the folk-pop group
The Humblebums in
1969. After they disbanded in
1971, he recorded his first solo
album,
Can I Have My
Money Back? Rafferty and
Joe Egan formed the group Stealers Wheel in
1972, producing several hits, most notably "Stuck in the Middle with You". In 1978, he recorded his second solo album,
City to City, which included "Baker Street", his most popular song.
City to City
Legal issues after the break-up of Stealers Wheel meant that, for three years, Rafferty was unable to release any material. After the disputes were resolved in 1978, he recorded his second solo album, City to City, with producer
Hugh Murphy, which included the song with which he remains most identified, "Baker Street". According to Murphy, interviewed by
Billboard in
1993, he and Rafferty had to beg the record label,
United Artists, to release "Baker Street" as a single: "They actually said it was too good for the public. It was a good call: the single reached #3 in the UK and #2 in the US. The album sold over
5.5 million copies, toppling the
Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in the US on 8 July 1978. Rafferty considered this his first proper taste of success, as he told
Melody Maker the following year: "
...all the records
I've ever done before have been flops. Stealers Wheel was a flop. 'Can I Have My Money Back?' was a flop. The Humblebums were a flop...
My life doesn't stand or fall by the amount of people who buy my records. "Baker Street" featured a distinctive saxophone solo played by
Raphael Ravenscroft, although the origins of the solo have been disputed. As the singer recalled in a
1988 interview with
Colin Irwin: "When I wrote the song I saw that bit as an instrumental part but I didn't know what. We tried electric guitar but it sounded weak, and we tried other things and I think it was Hugh Murphy's suggestion that we tried saxophone.
Alcoholism
Rafferty had always enjoyed alcohol, and early songs, such as "One
Drink Down", "Baker Street", and "
Night Owl", freely mention the subject. He told friends that his alcoholism dated back to his childhood, though even people close to him had no idea how it would come to dominate his life.
Martha Rafferty believes her father started drinking heavily to cope with the pressures of playing on stage, but says his problem "wasn't obvious" for many years. According to
Michael Gray, the singer's personal manager in the early
1980s: "It never occurred to me in all the time I knew him that he was heading for alcoholism.
Maybe I should have realised, but I didn't. I'm unsure whether he did. As the 1980s progressed, Rafferty's growing drinking problem placed his marriage under impossible strain and his wife divorced him in
1990, though they remained close. In
1995, Rafferty was deeply affected by the death of his older brother
Joseph, an event from which family and friends have said he never fully recovered.
Death
In
November 2010, Rafferty was admitted to the
Royal Bournemouth Hospital where he was put on a life-support machine and treated for multiple organ failure. After being taken off life support, Rafferty rallied for a short time, and it seemed that he might recover. Rafferty died at his daughter Martha's home in
Stroud, Gloucestershire on 4 January 2011, of liver failure.
A Requiem Mass was held for Rafferty at
St Mirin's Cathedral in his native town of
Paisley on Friday
21 January 2011.
The service was streamed live over the
Internet. Politicians in attendance were the
First Minister of Scotland the
Right Honorable Alex Salmond MSP,
Wendy Alexander MSP,
Hugh Henry MSP, and
Robin Harper MSP. The musicians present included
Craig and Charlie Reid of
The Proclaimers, former bandmates Joe Egan and
Rab Noakes,
Barbara Dickson, and
Graham Lyle. The eulogy was given by Rafferty's longtime friend
John Byrne. His remains were then cremated at the
Woodside Crematorium in Paisley and his ashes scattered on the island of
Iona. He is survived by his daughter, granddaughter
Celia and brother Jim.
- published: 04 Jan 2014
- views: 972200