Joe Egan, one of the two founding members of 1970s Scottish rock band Stealers Wheel, has died at the age of 77.
Egan co-wrote the band’s enduring hit, Stuck In The Middle With You, which enjoyed a life of its own years after Stealers Wheel broke up in 1975.
The song is perhaps best remembered as the soundtrack to a gruesome scene in Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 film Reservoir Dogs, in which a man’s ear is cut off.
News of Egan’s death was made public over the weekend via his late bandmate Gerry Rafferty’s official Facebook page. No cause was given.
Rafferty’s daughter Martha, who now runs the page, wrote movingly of Egan: “I will always remember him as a sweet and gentle soul. May he rest in peace.”
Joe Egan, one of the two founding members of 1970s Scottish rock band Stealers Wheel, has died aged 77; photographed in London in 1979
She announced on Sunday that “the other half of Stealers Wheel, Joe Egan, passed away peacefully yesterday afternoon with his loved ones around him.”
Egan was born in 1946 in Paisley, Scotland, where he and Rafferty became childhood friends while attending St Mirin’s Academy.
“I was always interested in music, like Gerry, but I also really liked football and at one point I hoped to make it as a player,” Egan recalled decades later.
“But when it became clear that I thought I was better than I actually was, I dove headfirst into my music,” he told the magazine. Paisley Daily Express.
He and Rafferty formed Stealers Wheel in 1972 and had their first hit single the following year with Stuck In The Middle With You, which they co-wrote.
Stuck In The Middle With You was a huge success, reaching number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and number eight on the UK Singles Chart.
However, the band was never able to recreate their initial burst of glory, and in 1975 they went their separate ways due to creative differences.
After the collapse of Stealers Wheel, Egan released two solo albums: Out Of Nowhere in 1979 and Maps two years later.
News of her death was released via the official Facebook page of her late bandmate Gerry Rafferty (right), with whom she wrote Stuck In The Middle With You; the pair are pictured here in 1975.
The song is perhaps best remembered as the soundtrack to a scene in Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 film Reservoir Dogs in which Michael Madsen’s character cuts off a police officer’s ear.
In the iconic scene, a gangster played by Michael Madsen dances madly as he tortures a police officer and cuts off his ear.
Egan and Rafferty formed Stealers Wheel in 1972 and had their first hit single the following year with Stuck In The Middle With You; photographed in Copenhagen in 1974
However, the duo were never able to recreate their initial burst of glory, and in 1975 they went their separate ways due to creative differences; pictured here in 1974.
As the years passed, Egan retreated from the public eye and the music industry, reportedly remaining in Scotland.
However, Stealers Wheel enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in 1992 when Quentin Tarantino included its biggest hit in his directorial debut Reservoir Dogs.
In an iconic scene from the film, a gangster played by Michael Madsen dances maniacally while torturing a police officer by cutting off his ear.
The song she dances to is Stuck In The Middle With You, which thanks to Reservoir Dogs found a new fan base from a new generation.
Rafferty eventually died in 2011 from liver failure at the age of just 63, after decades of alcoholism that cost him his two-decade marriage.
In the years following the band’s split, Egan released two solo albums: Out Of Nowhere in 1979 and Maps two years later; photographed in 1979 in London.
A 1973 Stealers Wheel line-up featuring (left to right) Rab Naokes, DeLisle Harper, Rod Coombes, Luther Grosvenor, Egan and Rafferty in Amsterdam.
After Rafferty succumbed to his demons, Egan came forward to give an interview to his hometown newspaper about their friendship.
“Gerry’s death has left a huge void in my life,” she said. “We spent a lot of time in contact and, lately, we spoke regularly on the phone.”
Egan fondly recalled his former bandmate: “Gerry was an extremely talented musician, and that was evident from the beginning. Probably his best quality was his uncanny sense of melody. He had a special ear for music and was equally comfortable alone as he was when we were collaborating.”
His theory is that “we had our conflicts because we spent so much time living in each other’s pockets, but we remained in touch until very recently.”
