Remember The Genius Of Gerry Rafferty

Remember The Genius Of Gerry Rafferty

By Paul McCann

Gerry Rafferty , was born in 1947 . His parents were Irish catholics .

His father Joseph was a miner and his Mother Mary taught him Irish and Scottish folk songs when he was a boy . 

His mother played a major role in Gerry’s musical journey and later in his life he wrote a tribute song for her called Mary Skeffington .

In the early years of Gerry’s career he joined a folk pop trio called The Humblebums which included Billy Connolly and Tam

Harvey . Billy Connolly played the banjo , Jim was an accomplished bluegrass guitarist and Gerry’s genius began to make an impact .  His emergence as a major songwriter was noticed quite early in his career with a folk song entitled “Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway” 

Around the time of this release 

Jim departed The Humblebums which left the duo Billy Connolly and Gerry   . The song was recorded and released in 1969 and it reached the top ten in the  UK pop charts .

The Humblebums split with Billy

Connolly embarking on his role as a standup comedian while Gerry recorded an album, 

“Can I Have MyMoney Back”

Gerry was going somewhere and it wasn’t that long before he formed Stealers Wheel with Joe Egan . “Stuck In The Middle With You “ was a groundbreaking song for the band .

Then Gerry hit the big time and found his fame  with a song called Baker Street from his City To City Album . At this time Gerry had developed his  own unique style . a fusion between The Beatles and Bob Dylan . He was creating some interesting material on his albums “Night Owl’ “Snakes And Ladders and  “The Long Way Round .“

Gerry moved to live in California before his death on January 4th 2011 he  left everything to his only daughter Martha .

The End