Gerry Cott (born 15 October 1954, in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

) is an Irish guitarist and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

, who was a co-founder of the

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

new wave

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

The Boomtown Rats The Boomtown Rats are an Irish rock music, rock band originally formed in Dublin in 1975. Between 1977 and 1985, they had a series of Irish and UK hit record, hits including "Like Clockwork", "Rat Trap", "I Don't Like Mondays" and "Banana Repub ...

. He started playing

flamenco guitar A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar but with thinner tops and less internal bracing. It usually has nylon strings, like the classical guitar, but it generally possesses a livelier, more gritty sound compared to the clas ...

when he was 11 years old. In 1966 he saw

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

performing live in

and the experience influenced him radically. Gerry left

in 1982, prior to the recording of the band's fifth album '' V Deep''. In 1984 he released the five-song album ''I Left My Hat in Haiti'' that included the single "Alphabet Town". "Alphabet Town" hit the Canadian charts, peaking at #90 during a 9-week run near the end of 1984. He is now an animal trainer and animal action supervisor in films and television with his company A-Z Animals, which followed on from a hobby and lifelong interest in animals and he is currently writing his first book. In 2010 Gerry Cott released a solo acoustic guitar album ''Urban Soundscapes''''Urban Soundscapes'', Amazon Track Listing
/ref> On 20 September 2011, Gerry Cott performed live on stage with Bob Geldof at the Cadogan Hall in Sloane Square, London for the last three songs of the set. According to Geldof, it was the first time the two had been on the stage together in over 30 years.

References

External links

- A-Z AnimalsGerry Cott - Solo Guitarist
1954 births Irish guitarists Irish male guitarists Living people Musicians from Dublin (city) The Boomtown Rats members Irish new wave musicians {{guitarist-stub