Obituary: Gerry Rafferty

Gerry Rafferty, who had hits both as a solo artist and with the band Stealers Wheel, died on January 4 following kidney failure.

He was born in Paisley, near Glasgow, in 1947. In the 1960s he formed The Mavericks, a Beatles-inspired four-piece who performed in and around the local area. After the Mavericks split, Rafferty joined Billy Connolly’s folk band, The Humblebums. They split, too, and Rafferty began a solo music career, gently advising Connolly to move into comedy.

After a relatively successful debut solo album, Rafferty formed Stealers Wheel with former Maverick Joe Egan. Their eponymous debut contained ‘Stuck In The Middle With You’, a UK and US top 10 hit. The band released two more albums and then, in 1978, Rafferty released his second solo album, the platinum-selling City To City. It contained ‘Baker Street’, a hit that would make him £80,000 annually for the rest of his life.

Rafferty’s solo career continued, with gradually diminishing returns, but alcohol was the main influence on his last 20 years. It cost Rafferty his wife, his home and his health.

This is the second time Gerry Rafferty’s death has been reported. In February 2009 he disappeared from London’s St Thomas Hospital, where he was being treated for liver failure, and was rumoured to have died. He soon released a statement announcing that he was alive and well and living in Italy, although it transpired he’d actually moved to Dorset.
His death also lays to rest an old myth — that Bob Holness played sax on ‘Baker Street’. He didn’t. The part was taken by a Scottish man named Raphael Ravenscroft.

Gerry Rafferty, rock singer-songwriter, b. 16.04.1947, d. 04.01.2011

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