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Gerry Rafferty

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The Official Gerry Rafferty site. Gerry Rafferty. Early years[edit] Foxbar in Paisley, Renfrewshire, where Rafferty grew up. Rafferty was born on 16 April 1947 into a working-class family in Underwood Lane in Paisley,[1] a son and grandson of coal miners.[2] He was a son of Mary Skeffington[3] and Joseph Rafferty (died 1963);[4] and had two brothers, Jim and Joe (died 1995).[5] Rafferty grew up in a council house on the town’s Foxbar estate and was educated at St Mirin's Academy.[5] His Irish-born father, a violent alcoholic, was a miner and lorry driver who died when Rafferty was 16.[4] His mother was Irish/Scottish and taught him both Irish and Scottish folk songs as a boy: "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.

Musical career[edit] The Humblebums/Stealers Wheel[edit] Even though Rafferty and Connolly parted ways in 1971, they remained close friends until Rafferty's death in 2011. The Humblebums. The Humblebums were a Scottish folk band, based in Glasgow. Its members included Billy Connolly, who later became a renowned stand-up comedic actor, guitarist Tam Harvey and the singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty. The band was active from the mid-1960s until the early 1970s. Career[edit] Connolly co-founded the band with Harvey in 1965 and played in the pubs and clubs around the city, most notably the Old Scotia Bar. Connolly sang, played banjo and guitar, and entertained the audience with his humorous introductions to the songs. Harvey was an accomplished Bluegrass guitarist. A number of songs performed by Connolly on his early comedy albums originated with the Humblebums, and actual Humblebums recordings also frequently turn up on Connolly compilations.

Discography[edit] Albums[edit] First Collection of Merry Melodies (Transatlantic TRA186, February 1969) Billy Connolly (vocals, guitar, banjo), Tam Harvey (guitar, mandolin) with Ronnie Rae (bass) Billy Connolly, Gerry Rafferty Singles[edit] The Big Yin - Billy Connolly. Stealers Wheel. The band broke up in 1975 and re-formed without Egan or Rafferty in 2008. Biography[edit] Stealers Wheel in 1973. By the time the first album was released Rafferty had left the band to be replaced by Luther Grosvenor, who remained with the band for much of 1973 on tour. DeLisle Harper also replaced Tony Williams on tour.

"A catchy shuffle of the Lennonesque variety, "Star" is 3 minutes of pure shimmering acoustic-guitar pop loveliness and honey-throated vocal harmonies, punctuated with spikes of harmonica, kazoo, woodblock, and bawdy barrelhouse piano After 1975 the group was hardly known, and the two last single releases faded away in the charts. All three albums have been unavailable for a number of years, although in 2004 and 2005 the British independent record label Lemon Recordings, of Cherry Red, re-released them with remastered sound and new liner-notes. Gerry Rafferty died on 4 January 2011 after suffering liver failure.[6] Band members[edit] Current members Past members[edit] Gerry Rafferty. Shoeshine Boy - The Humblebums.

Stuck In The Middle With You - Stealers Wheel. Gerry Rafferty - Get It Right Next Time. Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street (UK) Gerry Rafferty Song Lyrics. Gerry Rafferty Biography. Bruce Eder All Music Guide Gerry Rafferty was a popular music giant at the end of the 1970's, thanks to the song "Baker Street" and the album City To City.

His career long predated that fixture of top 40 radio, however - indeed, by the time he cut "Baker Street", Rafferty had already been a member of two successful groups, the Humblebums and Stealers Wheel. Gerry Rafferty was born in Paisley, Scotland in 1947, the son of a Scottish mother and an Irish father. His father was deaf but still enjoyed singing, mostly Irish rebel songs, and his early experience of music was a combination of Catholic hymns, traditional folk music, and 50's pop music.

By 1968, at age 21, Rafferty was a singer-guitarist and had started trying to write songs professionally, and was looking for a gig of his own. Enter Billy Connolly, late of Scottish bands like the Skillet-Lickers and the Acme Brush Company. Finally, in 1978, Rafferty was free to record again, and he signed to United Artists Records. Music - Gerry Rafferty. Gerry Rafferty. Gerry Rafferty – Free listening, concerts, stats, & pictures at Last. Gerry Rafferty dies aged 63.