Joe Egan of Stealers Wheel, Dies at 77
Joe Egan, part of the band Stealers Wheel with Gerry Rafferty, has died at the age of 77. Rafferty’s Facebook page (run by his daughter Martha as Rafferty died in 2011) confirmed the news that Egan died on July 6, 2024, but did not share a cause of death. Egan and Rafferty are best known as Stealers Wheel with the hit song “Stuck in the Middle With You,” which Egan co-wrote. The song became a Top 10 hit in the United States and the U.K. in the ’70s and again in the ’90s after appearing in the film Reservoir Dogs.
The post read, alongside several photos of Egan and Rafferty, “Very sad news that the other half of Stealers Wheel, Joe Egan, passed away peacefully yesterday afternoon with his nearest and dearest around him. I will always remember him as a sweet and gentle soul. May he rest in peace ♥️”
They formed the band in their hometown of Paisley, Scotland in 1972 but the band was short-lived as Rafferty left by the time their debut album was released. Egan released two solo albums but eventually left the music industry in the 1990s. It was reported that he ran a publishing business near his hometown.
Egan once shared about why the entire group never reunited, “Like everyone else, I suppose we had our fallouts because we spent so much time living in each others’ pockets.” He will be missed.
70s Pop Idols
May 2019
The biggest and best from the worlds of rock and disco!
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