These, plus the less popular Snakes and Ladders (1980, recorded in Montserrat), are the gorgeously produced works of Gerry's prime. Refusing to tour America, he played a few British dates and recorded his successful follow-up, Night Owl (1979), which yielded further hits: Days Gone Down, Get It Right Next Time and the title track. Fuelled by the smash hit single Baker Street, it sold 5m copies and Gerry became a millionaire "overnight". Signed to United Artists, he and Hugh Murphy co-produced the album for £18,000 in 1978. Gerry played every instrument, including lentil-jar percussion. Demos for the album were made in Carla's parents' old house, on a four-track machine.
But Rafferty learned that their royalties had been filched, Egan returned to Scotland, and Stealers Wheel collapsed before the release of the album Right Or Wrong in 1975.ĭisentangling Gerry from his contracts took three years, but his second solo career, beginning with City to City, was constructed more cannily. A now-forgotten single, Everyone's Agreed That Everything Will Turn Out Fine, preceded the minor hit Star and the 1974 album Ferguslie Park. He was persuaded back, and he and Egan became the sole group members, using backing musicians in the studio and on tours. But their A&M record contract tied them to huge touring and album commitments, and imposed musicians upon them. Their eponymous debut album climbed the US charts and included the million-selling Stuck in the Middle With You, memorably resurrected for a key scene in Quentin Tarantino's film Reservoir Dogs (1992). Yet in 1972, now with a young daughter, Martha, Gerry rejoined Egan to form Stealers Wheel, a soft-rock group. Staying with Transatlantic, his characteristically titled first album – Can I Have My Money Back? – began his real career in 1971, establishing him as a singer-songwriter, bringing folk fans with him and promoting his songs. It was Gerry who urged Connolly to go it alone as a comic. Despite US releases, singles written by Gerry (Shoeshine Boy and Saturday Round About Sunday) and John Peel sessions for the BBC, there was little reaction and tensions grew between these strong personalities. The Humblebums' first LP, on the folk-oriented label Transatlantic, predated Gerry's involvement, but he and Connolly were the group for the albums The New Humblebums (1969, with cover art by Byrne, a partnership that later spanned the albums of Gerry's heyday) and Open Up the Door (1970). Billy Connolly was also in Clydebank, and after Gerry's song Benjamin Day failed as a Mavericks single, Gerry and Egan quit the group and Gerry joined Connolly's outfit, the Humblebums, a Clydeside folk act.
Byrne, also educated at St Mirin's, had long been Gerry's mentor, and had first interested Gerry in playing the guitar. They married in 1970, after courting at the bohemian bungalow of the artist and future playwright John "Patrick" Byrne and his wife, Alice. She was 15, from an Italian Clydebank family. At a dancehall in 1965, Gerry met his future wife, apprentice hairdresser Carla Ventilla. At weekends, he and a schoolfriend, Joe Egan, played in a local group, the Mavericks. So it can help businesses take on anything from rebooking flights on the fly, to restocking shelves on demand, without getting in your way.That year, Gerry left St Mirin's academy and worked in a butcher's shop and at the tax office. It's open and flexible enough to manage all your apps and data securely, anywhere, across all your clouds. Especially by something that's supposed to do the opposite like your cloud. No one likes to feel stuck, boxed in, or held back. It’s open and flexible enough to manage all your apps and data securely, anywhere, across all your clouds.
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