Joe Egan (musician)

Egan was born into an Irish Catholic family in Paisley in Renfrewshire, Scotland. Along with former St Mirin's Academy schoolmate Gerry Rafferty,^[1] he played in various smaller British bands, such as The Sensors and The Maverix,^[2] and worked as a session musician.^[2]

In 1972, Egan and Rafferty founded the folk/rock band Stealers Wheel.^[3] After two unsuccessful singles, their debut studio album Stealers Wheel, produced by the American songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, became a commercial success.^[4] The album's main single, "Stuck in the Middle With You", co-written by Egan with Rafferty, became a hit in 1973 and reached the Top Ten of both the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100.^[5][6] Subsequently, the band had a few smaller successes, such as the Egan-penned song "Star", but stagnating sales figures and artistic differences finally led to the band's break-up in 1975.^[7] Both Egan and Rafferty embarked on solo careers, with Rafferty scoring a hit with "Baker Street" in 1978.^[8]

Egan's first solo album, Out of Nowhere, released in 1979,^[9] produced "Back on the Road", a turntable hit on British radio.^[9] In 1981, Egan released his second album, Map,^[9] and in 1992 contributed backing vocals to Rafferty's album On a Wing and a Prayer.^[9] Egan left the music business in the 1990s.^[8]

Egan died from a stroke in Paisley on 6 July 2024, at the age of 77.^[6]

• 1979: Out of Nowhere^[9]
• 1981: Map^[9]