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Who Was Joe Egan? Stealers Wheel Band Member And Lyricist Passes Away At 77
The Stealers Wheel band member and the lyricist of the hit song, Stuck In The Middle With You, passed away at 77. Tributes pour in for the musician.
Trigger Warning: This article contains mention of death.
Joe Egan, famously known for writing the hit song Stuck in the Middle With You, has passed away at the age of 77. A post on the Facebook page of one of the musician's bandmates, Gerry Rafferty, confirmed the sad news. Rafferty, too, died in 2011, and his account is being operated by his daughter, Martha.
Egan and Rafferty had been friends since the initial days of their careers, and the duo went on to form a band, which became popular amongst the singers of the era. The musicians went on to release multiple hits under the title Stealers Wheel, which was the name of their band.
Who was Joe Egan?
Joseph Egan was born in an Irish Catholic family on October 18, 1946. Since a young age, Egan had been a music enthusiast and went on to form a band with his schoolmate and friend, Gerry Rafferty. In the early days of his career, the artist played in various British bands, such as Maverix and The Sensors. Egan also worked as a session musician.
After graduating from St. Mirin’s Academy, the musician went on to form the Stealers Wheel with Rafferty in the 1970s. The duo released multiple hit songs under the banner of their band. One of the early hits from the duo is Stuck in the Middle With You, which the pair co-wrote and released in 1972.
The song broke multiple records by grabbing the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and the U.K. Singles chart. Moreover, the track sold over 2 million copies and was featured in the Quentin Tarantino film Reservoir Dogs.
In a 2009 interview with Rolling Stones, the director claimed that the song worked out very well for the scene in his movie. Tarantino said that even the actor who came in to audition for the role picked up the song.
The filmmaker said, “[The actors] could pick anything they wanted; they didn’t have to use that song. And a couple of people picked another one, but almost everyone came in with ‘Stuck in the Middle With You,’ and they were saying that they tried to come up with something else, but that’s the one.”
The Stealer Wheels split
After releasing a few hits in the 1970s and 1980s, Egan and Rafferty split, launching their solo careers in the music industry. After breaking up with the Stealers Wheel, the 77-year-old singer released two solo albums.
Though the musicians never reunited on the stage together, both maintained their friendship until Rafferty passed away in 2011. In the interview with Daily Record, Egan mentioned, "Like everyone else, I suppose we had our fallouts because we spent so much time living in each other's pockets. But we were still in touch until very recently."
Soon after the announcement of Joe Egan’s death on July 6, tributes poured in for the musician from across the industry.
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