Biography
Joe Egan (Irish Seosamh MacAodhagain) (born Joseph Egan in in Paisley, Scotland, on 18 October 1946; died 6 July 2024) was a Scottish singer and songwriter of Irish Catholic descent remembered for being one of the two key members of Stealers Wheel and for being co-writer of their hit song "Stuck in the Middle with You".
In the 1960s Egan, together with former St Mirin's Academy school mate Gerry Rafferty, played in various smaller British bands, for example The Sensors and The Mavericks, and worked as a session musician. In 1972 he and Rafferty founded the folk-rock band Stealers Wheel. After two unsuccessful singles the track "Stuck in the Middle With You", which he had co-written with Rafferty, surprisingly became a hit in 1973 and reached the Top Ten of both the UK Singles Chart and the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.
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Subsequently the band had a few smaller successes, amongst others with the Egan penned song "Star", but stagnating sales figures and artistic differences finally led to the band's break-up in 1975. Egan eventually recorded his solo debut album "Back On The Road", but this did not occur until 1979 as he and Rafferty were contractually obliged not to release any recordings for three years.
In 1978 Rafferty had a worldwide hit with "Baker Street" and the following year Egan registered a minor hit with his first single release, also named "Back On The Road".
The same year Egan's second single "Out Of Nowhere" turned out to be a flop. 1981 saw the release of his second album "Map", which was not a critical or commercial success. Egan withdrew from the music industry and did not release any new recordings - although, during 1990-91, Egan provided backing vocals for a number of the tracks on Gerry Rafferty's 1992 solo album 'On a Wing and a Prayer'.
As of 2005, Egan lived in Renfrewshire and ran a publishing company from his home.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.