Song:Baker Street
Album:Right Down The Line: The Best Of Gerry Rafferty
Scottish singer songwriter Gerry Rafferty was already known for the Stealers Wheel hit Stuck In The Middle With You when he struck gold with Baker Street in 1978. Unfortunately, record company problems hampered his career so he was not as big as he should have been. He was born Apr. 16, 1947 in Paisley, Scotland. His first group was The Humblebums with Tim Harvey and Billy Connolly. Rafferty wrote most of the songs. They recorded a few albums for Transatlantic and then split up because Connolly's comedy was becoming the focal point of the group. In 1971, Rafferty recorded the solo album Can I Have My Money Back?. It didn't sell but he did work with Joe Egan and producer Hugh Murphy Rafferty and Egan formed Stealers Wheel and hit with Stuck In The Middle With You. But none of their other songs did well and the breakup of the group led to legal problems that forced Rafferty to the sidelines for a couple of years. In 1978, he signed with United Artists and released City To City. The album topped the Billboard Hot 200 and was certified Platinum. Baker Street reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Of course the song is known for the sax breaks by session musician Raphael Ravenscroft. Rafferty knew he wanted an instrumental break but he didn't know what instrument he wanted. Hugh Murphy decided on the sax and another session musician Pete Zorn recommended Ravenscroft. The guitar solo was by Hugh Burns. Rafferty had a couple of other hits like Right Down The Line and Days Gone Down. Things went south in 1980 when United Artists was sold to EMI. And Rafferty was burned out from touring anyway. EMI didn't really want him and Rafferty was dropped in 1982. This budget comp is a good intro to his music. Gerry Rafferty recorded occasionally and continued to perform. He even moved to California for a while. But he was never able to regain the magic of Baker Street and he died on Jan. 4, 2011 at age 63. Here's the video for Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty.
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