Gerry Rafferty

Gerald Rafferty (16 April 1947 – 4 January 2011) was a Scottish singer-songwriter. He was a founding member of Stealers Wheel, whose biggest hit was "Stuck in the Middle with You" in 1973. His solo hits in the late 1970s included "Baker Street", "Right Down the Line" and "Night Owl".

Rafferty was born into a working-class family in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. His mother taught him both Irish and Scottish folk songs when he was a boy; later, he was influenced by the music of the Beatles and Bob Dylan. He joined the folk-pop group the Humblebums (of which Billy Connolly was a member) 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. In 1978, he recorded his second solo album, City to City. A heavy drinker for much of his life, Rafferty died from liver failure in January 2011.

Rafferty was born in 1947 into a working-class family of Irish Catholic origin in Underwood Lane in Paisley, a son and grandson of coal miners. His parents were Joseph Rafferty and Mary Skeffington, and he had two older brothers, Joe and Jim.

Rafferty grew up in a council house in the town's Ferguslie Park, in Underwood Lane, and was educated at St Mirin's Academy. His Irish-born father was a miner and lorry driver who died when Rafferty was 16. Rafferty learned both Irish and Scottish folk songs as a boy. He recalled: "My father was Irish, so growing up in Paisley I was hearing all these songs when I was two or three. Songs like 'She Moves Through the Fair', which my mother sings beautifully. And a whole suite of Irish traditional songs and Scots traditional songs". Heavily influenced by folk music and the music of the Beatles and Bob Dylan, Rafferty started to write his own material.

Rafferty left St Mirin's Academy in 1963. He then worked in a butcher's shop, as a civil service clerk, and in a shoe shop. However, he explained in an interview, "But there was never anything else for me but music. I never intended making a career out of any of the jobs I did." On weekends, he and a classmate, future Stealers Wheel collaborator Joe Egan, played in a local group named the Maverix, mainly covering chart songs by groups such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. In the mid 1960s, Rafferty earned money, for a time, busking on the London Underground. In 1966, Rafferty and Egan were members of the band the Fifth Column, along with Dennis Bell. The group got a deal with Columbia Records and released the single "Benjamin Day"/"There's Nobody Here", but it was not a commercial success.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.