Joseph Egan (born 18 October 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter.
Early career
Egan was born into an
Irish Catholic
Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the British ...
family in
Paisley in Renfrewshire, Scotland. Along with former
St Mirin's Academy schoolmate
Gerry Rafferty
Gerald Rafferty (16 April 1947– 4 January 2011) was a Scottish singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was a founding member of Stealers Wheel, whose biggest hit was "Stuck in the Middle with You" in 1973. His solo hits in th ...
, he played in various smaller British bands, such as The Sensors and The Maverix, and worked as a
session musician
Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...
.
Stealers Wheel
In 1972, he and Rafferty founded the
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fo ...
/rock band
Stealers Wheel
Stealers Wheel were a Scottish folk rock/ rock band formed in 1972 in Paisley, Scotland, by former school friends Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty. Their best-known hit is "Stuck in the Middle with You". The band broke up in 1975 and re-formed bri ...
.
After two unsuccessful singles, their song "
Stuck in the Middle With You"—co-written by the two—became a hit in 1973, and reached the
Top Ten of both the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
and the US
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Subsequently, the band had a few smaller successes, among others, with the Egan-penned song "
Star
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...
", but stagnating sales figures and artistic differences finally led to the band's break-up in 1975.
Solo work
Egan and Rafferty were contractually obliged not to release any recordings for three years; eventually Egan recorded a solo debut album, ''Out of Nowhere'', in 1979. He registered a minor hit with his first single release "Back on the Road", and that same year released a second single titled "Out Of Nowhere".
1981 saw the release of his second album, ''Map'', which was not a critical or commercial success, and subsequently no singles were released in support of it. After this he did not release any new recordings and left the music industry, though he did briefly reunite with Rafferty to perform vocals on some tracks on the latter's 1992 album ''
On a Wing and a Prayer
''On a Wing & a Prayer'' is the seventh studio album by Gerry Rafferty. The album includes three tracks co-written with Rafferty’s brother Jim, also a singer-songwriter, who had been signed to Decca Records in the 1970s. The music was heavil ...
''.
After the music business
As of 2005, Egan lived in
Renfrewshire
Renfrewshire () ( sco, Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland.
Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Renfr ...
and ran a publishing company from home.
Discography
Albums
* 1979: ''Out of Nowhere''
* 1981: ''Map''
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Egan, Joe
1946 births
Living people
British soft rock musicians
Musicians from Paisley, Renfrewshire
People educated at St Mirin's Academy
Scottish people of Irish descent
Scottish session musicians
Scottish singer-songwriters