Post by Rob Durkee on Jan 4, 2011 23:23:48 GMT -5
By ROCKIN' ROBIN
Gerry Rafferty, who was best known for his #1 Cash Box pop chart hit "Baker Street" and the hit "Stuck In The Middle With You" as a member of Stealers Wheel, died Tuesday, January 4, 2011, of liver failure. He was 63.
According to many sources, including CBS News, Wikipedia and the publication The Guardian, Rafferty had battled heavy drinking for many years. Still another newspaper, Scotland On Sunday, reported in August, 2008, that Rafferty had been asked to leave a London hotel, after which he checked himself into a hospital suffering from a chronic liver condition. The Guardian reported in February 2009 that Rafferty was living in hiding in south England and being cared for by a friend. That report was later denied.
Finally, late last year (November 2010), Rafferty was hospitalized in Bournemouth, Dorset, while suffering from liver failure. Doctors told his immediate family that he had little chance of surviving and was eventually taken off life support.
Rafferty burst onto the music scene with "Stuck In The Middle With You," the Stealers Wheel song that reached #3 on the Cash Box pop chart and would be used on the soundtrack of the 1992 movie "Reservoir Dogs." Stealers Wheel would also have two more Top 40 Cash Box hits in 1973 with "Everyone's Agreed That Everything Will Turn Out Fine" (#33) and "Star" (#20).
In addition to "Baker Street," Rafferty had four more solo Top 40 Cash Box pop chart hits in 1978-79. "Right Down The Line" peaked at #8. Next came "Home And Dry" (#23), "Days Gone Down" (#22) and "Get It Right Next Time" (#23).
"Baker Street," which included a stellar saxophone solo by Raphael Ravenscroft, would eventually be honored by BMI for getting five million airplays. The song also reached #1 on the Radio and Records pop chart but not the chart that the show "American Top 40" with Casey Kasem went by at the time in 1978.
According to three AT40 staffers at the time, the magazine supplied its new chart for the weekend of July 29, 1978, saying that "Baker Street " was #1. About 15 minutes later, one of the three staffers, Sandy Stert Benjamin, got a call from the magazine saying that last-second changes were made with the chart and that an updated chart would be reported in a few minutes. When the magazine reported its updated chart, "Baker Street" was back at #2 where it was the previous five weeks. "Shadow Dancing" by Andy Gibb instead was reported as the #1 song for its seventh and final week. Adding to the chart controversy was how "Shadow Dancing" would be named the #1 song for all of 1978 even though the #2 song of the year, "Night Fever" by the Bee Gees, had spent eight weeks at #1 earlier in 1978.
Matt Wilson, a long-time AT40 staffer who discovered Casey's first Long Distance Dedication letter ever, has observed many times over the years that "Baker Street" and its 15-minute or so stay at #1 was "the shortest stay at #1 ever."
Gerry Rafferty, who was best known for his #1 Cash Box pop chart hit "Baker Street" and the hit "Stuck In The Middle With You" as a member of Stealers Wheel, died Tuesday, January 4, 2011, of liver failure. He was 63.
According to many sources, including CBS News, Wikipedia and the publication The Guardian, Rafferty had battled heavy drinking for many years. Still another newspaper, Scotland On Sunday, reported in August, 2008, that Rafferty had been asked to leave a London hotel, after which he checked himself into a hospital suffering from a chronic liver condition. The Guardian reported in February 2009 that Rafferty was living in hiding in south England and being cared for by a friend. That report was later denied.
Finally, late last year (November 2010), Rafferty was hospitalized in Bournemouth, Dorset, while suffering from liver failure. Doctors told his immediate family that he had little chance of surviving and was eventually taken off life support.
Rafferty burst onto the music scene with "Stuck In The Middle With You," the Stealers Wheel song that reached #3 on the Cash Box pop chart and would be used on the soundtrack of the 1992 movie "Reservoir Dogs." Stealers Wheel would also have two more Top 40 Cash Box hits in 1973 with "Everyone's Agreed That Everything Will Turn Out Fine" (#33) and "Star" (#20).
In addition to "Baker Street," Rafferty had four more solo Top 40 Cash Box pop chart hits in 1978-79. "Right Down The Line" peaked at #8. Next came "Home And Dry" (#23), "Days Gone Down" (#22) and "Get It Right Next Time" (#23).
"Baker Street," which included a stellar saxophone solo by Raphael Ravenscroft, would eventually be honored by BMI for getting five million airplays. The song also reached #1 on the Radio and Records pop chart but not the chart that the show "American Top 40" with Casey Kasem went by at the time in 1978.
According to three AT40 staffers at the time, the magazine supplied its new chart for the weekend of July 29, 1978, saying that "Baker Street " was #1. About 15 minutes later, one of the three staffers, Sandy Stert Benjamin, got a call from the magazine saying that last-second changes were made with the chart and that an updated chart would be reported in a few minutes. When the magazine reported its updated chart, "Baker Street" was back at #2 where it was the previous five weeks. "Shadow Dancing" by Andy Gibb instead was reported as the #1 song for its seventh and final week. Adding to the chart controversy was how "Shadow Dancing" would be named the #1 song for all of 1978 even though the #2 song of the year, "Night Fever" by the Bee Gees, had spent eight weeks at #1 earlier in 1978.
Matt Wilson, a long-time AT40 staffer who discovered Casey's first Long Distance Dedication letter ever, has observed many times over the years that "Baker Street" and its 15-minute or so stay at #1 was "the shortest stay at #1 ever."