Marcus Connaughton is a veteran of the Irish record industry. In the
late 1980s he joined RTE, Ireland's national public service broadcaster,
as a radio producer. Over the past twenty-plus years, he has produced a
wide range of programming from the Metal Show on 2FM to Bluestime on
RTE Radio 1. He was invited to deliver the Inaugural Rory Gallagher
Memorial Lecture in November 1995 in Rory's home city of Cork. He has
compered and spoken at numerous tributes to the late guitarist in
Ireland, Britain and Europe. Marcus presents and produces RTE Radio 1's
maritime programme, Seascapes.
Rory Gallagher is a hero and icon of rock music. He inspired guitar
players from The Edge to Johnny Marr, Slash to Gary Moore, Johnny Fean
to Philip Donnelly, Declan Sinnott to Brian May. He toured incessantly
and sold over 30 million albums worldwide. In 1963, at the age of
fifteen, Rory bought his trademark Fender Stratocaster. He discovered
the blues when pop magazines and radio were scarce in Ireland and later
won the Melody Maker Guitarist of the Year in 1972, ahead of Eric
Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck. Acknowledged as one of the world's
leading guitarists, he collaborated with his boyhood hero Muddy Waters,
played with Jerry Lee Lewis, Albert King and Lonnie Donegan.
In this compelling biography, contemporaries, fellow musicians, film
maker Tony Palmer and Taste drummer John Wilson tell stories about Rory
from his meteoric rise in the late-1960s with Taste to his remarkable
solo career. This is a compelling testament to the musical life of a shy
and retiring working-class hero, distinguished by his check shirts and
his astounding dexterity on acoustic and electric guitar - the guitarist
and blues man who blazed a trail for others to follow.
Click here for a candid interview with author and Rory fan Marcus Connaughton
To Order from Collins Press
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