Stealers Wheel | |
---|---|
![]() Joe Egan (left) and Gerry Rafferty in 1973 | |
Background information | |
Origin | Paisley, Scotland |
Genres | Pop rock, folk rock |
Years active | 1972–1975, 2008 |
Labels | A&M |
Past members | Joe Egan Gerry Rafferty Rod Coombes Paul Pilnick Tony Williams Luther Grosvenor DeLisle Harper Tony Mitchell Roger Brown Iain Campbell Rab Noakes |
Stealers Wheel were a Scottish folk rock/rock band formed in 1972 in Paisley, Scotland, by former school friends Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty. [1] Their best-known hit is "Stuck in the Middle with You". The band broke up in 1975 and re-formed briefly in 2008.
Egan and Rafferty met as teenagers in Paisley, and became the core of Stealers Wheel. They were initially joined by Roger Brown, Rab Noakes and Iain Campbell in 1972. By the time the band was signed to A&M Records later that year, Brown, Noakes and Campbell had been replaced by Paul Pilnick, Tony Williams and Rod Coombes. [2]
This second line-up recorded Stealers Wheel (October 1972), produced by American songwriters and producers Leiber & Stoller, [2] and it was a critical and commercial success, reaching No. 50 in the US Billboard 200 album chart, with their hit single "Stuck in the Middle with You" coming from the album. [1] On 7 November 1972 the band appeared on BBC 2's The Old Grey Whistle Test , performing "I Get By" and "Late Again". [3] [4] [5]
By the time the first album was released, Rafferty had left the band; Luther Grosvenor filled in for him on tour. [2] Tony Williams also left shortly afterwards, and DeLisle Harper joined on bass for the tour.
"Stuck in the Middle with You" reached No. 6 in the US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart [6] in 1973, selling over one million copies worldwide, and was awarded a gold disc. [7] With the album also selling well, Rafferty was persuaded to return. However, Grosvenor, Coombes, Pilnick, and Harper all left the band. The band officially became a duo with various backing musicians on guitar, bass, and drums. [2] Later in 1973, the single "Everyone's Agreed That Everything Will Turn Out Fine" had modest chart success, and in 1974, the single "Star" reached the top 30 of both the UK and US charts. [1] [6] Reviewing the single "Star", David Middleton at PopRockNation wrote:
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. [8]
A second album, Ferguslie Park , was released in 1973, [2] with the duo supported by nine musicians. [9] The album, named after an area of Paisley, just barely reached the US Billboard 200 and was a commercial failure. With increasing tensions between Egan and Rafferty, and with Leiber & Stoller also having business problems, Stealers Wheel went on a year and a half hiatus. [2] By the time their third and final album Right or Wrong was released in 1975, they completely disbanded. [1] Because of disagreements and managerial problems, it was produced by Mentor Williams. In 1978, A&M released the compilation album Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan — Stuck in the Middle with You (The Best of Stealers Wheel).
Another compilation album, Best of Stealers Wheel, was released in 1990. In 1992, director Quentin Tarantino used the track "Stuck in the Middle with You" on the soundtrack of his debut film Reservoir Dogs, [1] in which it was used in the iconic scene involving the torture of a police officer. A dance version of "Stuck in the Middle with You" was a UK top 10 hit for Louise in September 2001, with a music video that drew heavily on the original song's appearance in Reservoir Dogs.
All three albums had been unavailable for many years, though in 2004 and 2005 the British independent record label Lemon Recordings, of Cherry Red, re-released them using vinyl sources rather than tapes.
After being contacted by iTunes and K-tel in California, Tony Williams briefly re-formed Stealers Wheel in Blackpool in 2008 with Rod Coombes and Paul Pilnick, together with close friend Tony Mitchell. On 10 November 2008, they started filming a music video for a re-recording of "Stuck in the Middle" on the Fylde coast. They also began writing new songs although they had no plans to tour, and disbanded again. [10]
Gerry Rafferty died on 4 January 2011 of liver failure. [11]
In early 2016, independent record label Intervention Records reissued both Stealers Wheel and Ferguslie Park on 180-gram vinyl. [12] [13]
In 2017, Caroline reissued all three in a mini-boxed set with three BBC bonus tracks on the first album. All were remastered. [14]
Rab Noakes died on 11 November 2022, at the age of 75. [15]
Joe Egan died on 6 July 2024 at the age of 77. [16]
This section needs additional citations for verification .(March 2023) |
Year | Title | Peak chart positions | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AUS [18] | CAN | US [19] | ||||
1972 | Stealers Wheel | 44 | 25 | 50 | ||
1973 | Ferguslie Park | — | — | 181 | ||
1975 | Right or Wrong | — | — | 201 | ||
1978 | Gerry Rafferty & Joe Egan - Stuck in the Middle with You: The Best of Stealers Wheel (A&M compilation) | — | — | — | ||
1990 | The Best of Stealers Wheel(compilation) | — | — | — | ||
2017 | Stealers Wheel: The A&M Years(all three studio albums, some live tracks) [20] | — | — | — | ||
"—" denotes releases that did not chart. |
Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Certifications | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK [6] | AUS [18] | US [19] | CAN | |||
1973 | "Stuck in the Middle with You" | 8 | 16 | 6 | 2 [21] | |
"Everything Will Turn Out Fine" (in AUS/US/CAN as "Everyone's Agreed That Everything Will Turn Out Fine") | 33 | 90 | 49 | 25 [23] | ||
"Star" | 25 | 67 | 29 | 12 [24] | ||
1975 | "Right or Wrong" | ― | ― | ― | ― | |
"Found My Way to You" | ― | ― | ― | ― | ||
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. |
"Stuck in the Middle with You" is a song written by Scottish musicians Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan and performed by their band Stealers Wheel.
The Strawbs are an English rock band founded in 1964 as the Strawberry Hill Boys. The band started out as a bluegrass group, but eventually moved on to other styles such as folk rock and progressive rock.
Gerald Rafferty was a Scottish singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. 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".
Joseph Egan was a Scottish singer-songwriter. Along with Gerry Rafferty, Egan was one of the two main members of the folk rock band Stealers Wheel, and co-writer of their hit song "Stuck in the Middle with You".
"Baker Street" is a single by the Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty, released in February 1978. It won the 1979 Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically and reached the top three in the UK, US and elsewhere. The song is known for its saxophone riff, written by Rafferty and performed by Raphael Ravenscroft.
The Humblebums were a Scottish folk rock band, based in Glasgow. Its members included Billy Connolly, who later became a renowned stand-up comedian and actor; guitarist Tam Harvey; and singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty. The band was active from 1965 to 1971.
Melvyn Desmond Collins is a British saxophonist, flautist and session musician.
City to City is the second solo studio album by Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty, released on 20 January 1978 by United Artists Records. It was Rafferty's first solo release in six years—and first release of any kind since 1975—due to his tenure in the band Stealers Wheel and subsequent legal proceedings which prevented Rafferty from releasing any new solo recordings for the next three years. The album was well received, peaking at No. 1 in the US and going Platinum, as well as reaching No. 6 in the UK Albums Chart and achieving Gold status. "Baker Street", "Right Down the Line" and "Home and Dry" were successfully released as singles.
Can I Have My Money Back? is the first solo album by Gerry Rafferty. The distinctive cover design was by John Patrick Byrne and was the start of a long working relationship between Rafferty and the playwright. The LP was well received, but performed poorly in charts and sales, in part because Rafferty had just left a well known band, The Humblebums. The album also saw Joe Egan come on board, and the pair formed Stealers Wheel shortly afterwards.
Over My Head is the eighth studio album by Gerry Rafferty, released in 1994. It is the follow-up to his album On a Wing and a Prayer and features many of the same musicians. The album includes songwriting contributions from Joe Egan and a John Lennon cover. The album also includes Rafferty's version of "Lonesome Polecat" a mournful ballad from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. The final track on the album is a reworking of a song written for The Humblebums.
Badger were a British rock band from the early 1970s. The band was founded by keyboardist Tony Kaye after he left Yes, along with bassist and vocalist David Foster.
Robert Ogilvie Noakes was a Scottish singer-songwriter. He was at the forefront of Scottish folk music for over 50 years and recorded over 19 studio albums. He toured folk clubs and often performed at the Glasgow music festival Celtic Connections.
Rodney Coombes is an English musician. He was mostly known from playing drums with British bands Stealers Wheel in 1972 to 1973 and again in 2008 and Strawbs from 1974 to 1977 and again from 2004 to 2010.
Roderick Parry Clements is a British guitarist, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He formed the folk-rock band Lindisfarne with Alan Hull in 1970, and wrote "Meet Me on the Corner", a UK Top 5 hit in March 1972, which won Clements an Ivor Novello Award. Lindisfarne broke up in 1973 and Clements became a founding member of Jack the Lad, also working with Ralph McTell and Bert Jansch. Lindisfarne reformed in 1977 and Clements continued to be part of the line-up until 2003. Rod rejoined Lindisfarne in 2015 and is currently touring and performing with the band.
Anthony Williams is an English musician who played bass guitar in the folk rock/rock band Stealers Wheel and who also played with Jethro Tull.
Stealers Wheel is the debut studio album by Scottish folk rock band Stealers Wheel. It was released on 17 November 1972 by A&M Records. The album was a critical and commercial success, reaching No. 50 in the US Billboard 200 album chart, with their hit single "Stuck in the Middle with You" coming from the album.
Ferguslie Park is the second album by the Scottish rock band Stealers Wheel, released in 1973.
"Star" is a song written by Joe Egan and performed by Stealers Wheel. In 1974, it reached No.6 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart, No.12 on the Canadian pop chart, No.25 on the UK Singles Chart, and No.29 on the U.S. pop chart. It was featured on the band's 1973 album Ferguslie Park.
This is the discography of Scottish rock singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty. He is best known for his solo hits "Baker Street", "Right Down the Line" and "Night Owl", as well as "Stuck in the Middle with You", recorded with the band Stealers Wheel.
Rest in Blue is a 2021 album from Scottish soft rock musician Gerry Rafferty, compiled from recordings made shortly before his death.