BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
Description: Band, UK
Known For: “Stuck in the Middle” – 1973
Music Styles: Folk, Rock
Location: United Kingdom
CONTACT DETAILS
Web Site:Stealers Wheel | Music Biography, Streaming Radio and …
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BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE
Stealers Wheel
A Scottish folk rock/rock band formed in Paisley, Renfrewshire in 1972 by former school friends Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty.
The band broke up in 1975 and was re-formed in 2008.
Rafferty and Egan first met when they were teenagers in Paisley and they became the core of Stealers Wheel.
In the early 1970s, the band was considered to be the British version of American folk/rock supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
They were initially joined by Roger Brown, Rab Noakes and Ian Campbell in 1972. However, that line-up only lasted a few months and by the time the band were signed to A&M Records later that same year, Brown, Noakes and Campbell had been replaced by Paul Pilnick, Tony Williams and Rod Coombes.
This line-up recorded their eponymous debut album, Stealers Wheel and was produced by the influential American songwriters and producers Leiber & Stoller.
The album was a critical and commercial success reaching number fifty in the US album charts, with their million selling hit single “Stuck in the Middle”, coming from the album.
By the time the first album was released Rafferty had left the band to be replaced by Luther Grosvenor, who remained with the band for much of 1973 on tour.
DeLisle Harper also replaced Tony Williams on tour.
The single reached number six in the USA and number eight in the UK in 1973, and sold over one million copies worldwide, and with the album also selling well, Rafferty was persuaded to return.
However, Grosvenor, Coombes and Pilnick all left the band. With so many changes in the band’s line-up they officially became a duo, with backing musicians as needed on tour and in the studio.
With increasing tension between Rafferty and Egan they could not agree on which studio musicians to use on the third album, and with Leiber & Stoller also having business problems, Stealers Wheel disappeared for eighteen months.
By the time the album Right Or Wrong was released in 1975, Stealers Wheel had ceased to exist.
The last album, because of disagreements and managerial problems, was produced by Mentor Williams. All three albums had particularly striking, slightly surrealist sleeve designs by artist John Byrne.
Members included:
Gerry Rafferty: vocals, lead guitar (1972-1975)
Joe Egan: lead vocals, keyboard (1972-1975)
Paul Pilnick: lead guitar (1972) and (2008–present) (born 17 March 1944, in Liverpool, Lancashire, England)
Tony Williams: bass guitar (1972) and (2008–present)
Ian Campell: bass guitar (1972) (born Ian Campbell, 17 July 1941, in Glasgow, Scotland).
Rod Coombes: drums (1972) and (2008–present)
Joe Jammer: guitar (1973-1975)
Andrew Steele: drums (1973-1975) (born Andrew Roy Malcolm Steele, 2 August 1941, in Hendon, London died 18 April 2005, in Alaska, United States).
Gerry Taylor: bass guitar(1973-1975)
Benie Holland: guitar (1975)
Dave Wintour: bass guitar (1975)
Luther Grosvenor (Ariel Bender): vocals, guitar (November 1972 – July 1973)
Tony Mitchell: guitar (2008–present)
Further members, who did not participate in any recordings
Rab Noakes: guitar, vocals (1972)
Roger Brown: vocals (1972)
DeLisle Harper: bass guitar (1973) (born Delisle McKenzie Harper, 20 November 1942).
Links:
- Stealers Wheel at AllMusic
- Stealers Wheel discography at Discogs
- Stealers Wheel at the Internet Movie Database
- From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia