Joe Egan, one of the co-founders of the 1970s Scottish rock band Stealers Wheel, has died at the age of 77.
Egan co-wrote the band’s successful record Stuck In The Middle With You, which took on a life of its own years after Stealers Wheel split in 1975.
The song is perhaps best known 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 the official Facebook page of his late bandmate Gerry Rafferty. No cause was given.
Rafferty’s daughter Martha, who now manages the page, wrote movingly of Egan: ‘I will always remember him as a kind and gentle soul. May he rest in peace.’
Joe Egan, one of the co-founders of the 1970s Scottish rock band Stealers Wheel, has died at the age of 77; pictured in London in 1979
She announced on Sunday that “the other half of Stealers Wheel, Joe Egan, passed away peacefully yesterday afternoon surrounded by his loved ones.”
Egan was born in 1946 in Paisley, Scotland, where he and Rafferty became childhood friends while studying at St Mirin’s Academy.
“I was always interested in music, like Gerry, but I also really enjoyed football and at some 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 threw myself into my music with all my heart and soul,” he told the Paisley Daily Express.
He and Rafferty formed Stealers Wheel in 1972 and the following year they scored their first hit single with Stuck In The Middle With You, which they wrote together.
Stuck In The Middle With You became a huge success, reaching number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and number eight on the UK Singles Chart.
However, the band failed to match the glory of the first hour and in 1975 they went their separate ways due to creative differences.
After the demise of Stealers Wheel, Egan released two solo albums: Out Of Nowhere in 1979 and Maps two years later.
News of his death broke via the official Facebook page of his late bandmate Gerry Rafferty (right), with whom he wrote Stuck In The Middle With You; the duo are pictured in 1975
The song is perhaps best known 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 around crazily while torturing a police officer and cutting off his ear
Egan and Rafferty They formed Stealers Wheel in 1972 and had their first hit single the following year with Stuck In The Middle With You; pictured in Copenhagen in 1974
However, the duo were never able to repeat their original glory days and in 1975 they split due to creative differences; pictured in 1974
As the years passed, Egan retreated from the public eye and the music industry, reportedly remaining in Scotland.
However, Stealers Wheel experienced a resurgence in popularity in 1992, when Quentin Tarantino included their biggest hit in his directorial debut Reservoir Dogs.
In an iconic scene in the film, a gangster played by Michael Madsen dances around like a maniac while torturing a police officer by cutting off one of his ears.
The song he dances to is Stuck In The Middle With You, which thanks to Reservoir Dogs gained a whole new fanbase from a whole new generation.
Rafferty eventually died in 2011 at the age of 63 from liver failure. He had suffered from alcoholism for decades, which cost him his marriage of 20 years.
In the years following the band’s split, Egan released two solo albums – Out Of Nowhere in 1979 and Maps two years later; pictured in London in 1979
A 1973 Stealers Wheel line-up featuring (from left) Rab Naokes, DeLisle Harper, Rod Coombes, Luther Grosvenor, Egan and Rafferty are pictured in Amsterdam
After Rafferty succumbed to his demons, Egan left his hiding place to give an interview to his hometown newspaper about their friendship.
“Gerry’s death has already left a big hole in my life,” he said. “We’ve been on each other’s lips for so long and we’ve been talking on the phone quite a bit lately.”
Egan recalled fondly of his old bandmate: ‘Gerry was an extraordinarily talented musician, and that was evident from an early age. His best quality was probably his great sense of melody. He had an ear for music and was equally at home on his own as when we were working together.’
He theorized that “we had a falling out because we spent so much time in each other’s pockets. But we were still in touch until recently.”