Scottish rocker Gerry Rafferty has died at the age of 63 after what was described as a long illness.
I happen to have some Gerry Rafferty in my music collection and on my iPod.
Rafferty was perhaps best known for his hit single, "Stuck in the Middle with You," which was featured in a pivotal scene in Quentin Tarantino's 1992 film Reservoir Dogs.
Despite the hit song, which came from the 1972 album Can I Have My Money Back?, Rafferty kept a low profile in recent years. He was also known for the catchy '70s songs "Baker Street" and "Right Down the Line," his last album was released in 2000.
A little known fact about Rafferty was he got his musical start from comedian-in-the-making, Billy Connolly back in 1969. Connolly invited Rafferty to join his band, the Humblebums. He recorded two albums with the Humblebums (The New Humbelbums and Open the Door) but the group split up when it became clear that Connolly’s ambitions lay more in comedy than music. “It was getting awkward on stage,” Rafferty would later recall. “When I did a solo piece, just voice and acoustic guitar, Billy would walk off stage. And his jokes were getting longer and longer while the songs were getting shorter and shorter. It made sense to part when we did.”
Other musicians are calling Rafferty a musical genius and he will be missed.