Rory Gallagher: Tributes from famous friends

This article was taken from Volume 19 Issue 13

JIMMY PAGE
"It was tragic. It really upset me. I heard it just before we went on stage the other night and it put a dampener on the evening. I can't say I knew him that well but I met him in our old offices once and we spent an hour talking and he was such a nice guy and a great player."

U2
• THE EDGE •
"A beautiful man and an amazing guitar player. We'll miss him very much."

• ADAM CLAYTON •
"The first show I ever went to was Rory Gallagher at the Carlton in 1975. I'll always remember his blues and acoustic guitar playing. R.I.P."

• BONO •
"One of the top ten guitar players of all time but more importantly one of the top ten good guys. Taste was my first experience of a real rock band."

• LARRY MULLEN JNR. •
"It was with great sadness that we learnt of Rory Gallagher's death. One of the most underrated Irish talents."

MICHEAL Ó'SUILLEABHAIN, Irish World Music Centre
"The first time I saw Rory Gallagher live was at a concert In Cork Opera House In 1970 while I was a student In UCC. The guitar seemed to sing in his hands. His Improvisations were constantly moving, reaching out, going somewhere, extending the potential of the Instrument itself. The music he made sounded so personal – almost as if it was a necessary healing that he constantly pursued. I always found that same quality In Eric Clapton's music also.
Rory Gallagher was in that same class of electric blues players. In the blues, he seemed to have found his own electric sean nós, yet another way down to the same well of feallng which all traditions draw from.
"Rory Gallagher was made to make music, and in making it he left a legacy of Ireland's first confident turnings into that particular contemporary sound. He was a pioneer to whom ft was given to cut through the undergrowth revealing new possible paths for others to follow. As those who knew him mourn, it is right that a note of celebration be sounded in honour of a musician who has entered our history."

ANDY FAIRWEATHER-LOW
"He was such a good natured thing, Rory. One of the abiding memories I have of him funnily enough happens to be one of the most recent ones. About six or eight months ago, Rory called in to see me at the hotel I was staying at. I wasn't feeling particularly bright. He was obviously not well but his only concern was how I was feeling. Which is so typical.
"I had a sort of a thyroid problem which I was getting checked out at the time. Obviously, Rory had had a similar type of problem. He was very reassuring as if nothing bad was going on in his life. Strangely, he put his hand on my knee, smiled up at me and said 'You take care now'. And then he was off into the night. That was the last time I saw him and it's sort of haunted me ever since. Things unfortunately got worse for him not for me. Although I kept up to date with his health after he fell ill, it was still such a shock when I learned of his death. In this business where things change so much he was very much a constant. If ever there was a troubadour this man was it."

DAVY SPILLANE
"On an album called Out Of The Air, Rory dropped in one time to play on a couple of tracks. It was an alectrlc blues album I made with a lot of the Moving Hearts. He was in Dublin and ha was free for a while so we asked him would he come down to do a few things with us and he did. He played a guitar that I provided him with which is a thirty-year-old lady-size harmony guitar which he played on a track we did with impromptu guitar and low whistle. He was very generous with his time, friendly, accessible and ahowed an Interest at a time when not that many people were all that focused on that kind of thing.
"He made a huge contribution to Irish music. He went out there and, largely, by himself he did It. It's another loss. There's key figures along the way in different genres of music, people like Michael RusseII, Paddy Kalouray, Johnny Brook, Dan Dowd, my father who you associate with whole eras that are dependent on them people being alive to represent them. Rory Gallagher was one of those. He made authentic music and proved that you can be Irish and still play the blues."

BRIAN DOWNEY, drummer with Thin Lizzy
"The first time I saw Rory playing was with the orlglnal Taste In about 1967, In The Scene Club near Parnell Square. The place was packed and everyone was quite surprised I think because nobody was playlng that kind of music In Ireland at the time. I was trying to form a blues band at the time. Which I eventually did, called The Sugar Shack but it was mainly through Rory's influence that I decided to go into the blues In a big way.
"I remember standing there about a foot away from the guy and the energy coming off the stage was unbelievable. It was totally new at the time. We went out of the gig in a total daze, and myself and a couple of the guys just didn't speak until a few hours afterwards.
"Obviously when Phil (Lynnot) and myself formed Thin Lizzy, we bumped into him quite a bit. We met up in Germany where he was absolutely huge. This was about ten years later. It was the first time I met him. He asked me about Tha Sugar Shack. Of course, I was amazed he'd even heard of us or remembered the name of the band. We'd broken up well before this.
"But every time we met him he was always very helpful and interested. There was no pretension about him whatsoever."

DAVE FANNING
"Rory Gallagher was a genuine total hero to me in the early 70s mainly around the time of his first solo album. I thought I was a bit Rory-ied out in some ways by the fact On The Boards meant so much to me, and all the Taste stuff and the Isle of Wight and all the rest of It. I thought maybe I'd had enough of Rory and I was moving into Jethro Tull or somebody like that at the time. Then, I heard the solo album about a month after It came out, and I just thought It was brilliant. His best song ever I think is 'Until I Fell Apart'.
"From then on, the solo shows were just as good and just as important as any of the Taste shows I'd seen at The Stadium. Myself and a friend - the same friend who used to work for HOT PRESS, a guy called Mel Riley - we used to idolise the man. Then to go into 2FM at the end of the 70s and get a Christmas card from him to me made being a DJ worthwhile. It made my day In fact.
"Even my mother knew who Rory Gallagher was when she heard that he'd died last week. Which she shouldn't have done if you know what I mean. He was a very nice guy and I just liked him as a person. He was at pains not to be seen to be trying to jump on any bandwagon or do a Jon Bon Jovi. In many ways, he wasn't for these times. Maybe he was of an era which he didn't have to be. I'd like to have seen him broaden out and capitalise more on his success, especially in 1972. Perhaps it might have helped him. I mean, Rory Is sometimes pigeonholed into the Blues but he was rock through and through.
"But a nicer guy you couldn't meet. Whenever you met him you always knew you were going to meet an incredibly well-mannered and polite person."

• PHILIP DONNELLY •
"As a player, he was fantastic. When I was just starting Elmer Fudd around '65-'67, there was a great gig venue on the southside of Cork City called Stella House where a lot of big bands played. When we finally booked ourselves into it, Taste had just played. They had come back to play there and then they were working in Germany. So they were one of the first that made it outside of Ireland. That was always an inspiration."

• PAUL McGUINNESS •
"He was the first International rock star from Ireland and has set a great example."

DONAL GALLAGHER, Rory Gallagher's brother and manager
'Last Of The Independents'
"Its hard to find the words that could remotely express or give an insight into my brother Rory.
"Suffice to say that he was the most extraordinary, intuitive, intelligent and sensitive man I have ever known and he was full of integrity. His mission in life was to make music and with his sad passing he has rendered his work timeless.
He has certainly left his calling card.
He will be ever present for all those who love him.
"I'll admit you're gone when I think I'm able" ('I'll Admit You're Gone', Rory
Gallagher)

AVRIL MacCRORY, Head Of Music Programmes at the BBC
"When we were filming Rory's performance in Cork Rory wanted everything black. He wanted the stage black, the background black and he wanted the lighting done his way. All of which was perfectly grand but I begged him not to wear black jeans for the set because I told him his legs will disappear. All we would see is this floating strat with the checked shirt above it, so I said to him 'Please will you wear blue jeans.' He sort of looked at me and said 'Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure.' This was at lunchtime of the day. I asked him had he got a pair of blue jeans and he said 'Yeah. Of course, I have.' And, naturally he comes out that night wearing black jeans. I nearly slaughtered him. We adjusted things a bit so he didn’t lose his legs though it looked at one point that he would. But that was Rory. He would be charming and nice and then do exactly what he had intended all along.
"But you never would have got Rory into an Armani suit, that's for sure. Denim jackets usually. But occasionally leather jackets and a black t-shirt just to ring in the changes. He did have variety. He wasn't entirely monochromatic. It had to be a plain t-shirt as well. No logos.
"I think people who are very, very shy and private are lonely and, to an extent, Rory probably was lonely. Not that he didn't have people. There were always people there for him. If he wanted them. But one of the reasons why Rory was such a great musician was because that's where it all came out. That's where he expressed everything. He was so shy I don't think he expressed himself in the normal kind of way or the way most people do which is in talk or ringing people up. He was a very gentle man as well. Rory would write a song when he felt miserable. Or he would play and it would all come out in his music. He was never short of people to talk to but very often he didn't want to be with people.
"Donal (Gallagher) was incredibly close to him and a solid and loyal support to Rory throughout the years. Brothers often aren't as they grow up but Donal and Rory were two sides of the same coin and Donal was the front man and Rory liked the background, and that's the way ii worked.
"Rory loved films, especially French films and he would talk for hours about movies. People like Bunuel he loved. And the Taviani Brothers. He also read an awful lot. Musically, two of the people he quoted most were Lonnie Donnegan and Muddy Waters. Rory always mentioned Lonnie. In fact, I think when Rory was thirteen and Donal was eleven, Rory won a talent competition in Cork wearing short trousers, singing Lonnie Donnegan and carrying this big guitar. As it turned out Rory was robbed of his prize and Donal at the age of eleven took it upon himself to go and sort out the fella who was organising the competition. So he was managing him even then.
"But Tom O'Driscoll and Donal were the foundation stones of Rory's life. Apart from his mother who he was very, very close to as well. He used to ring his mother every single night before she went to bed no matter where he was and no matter what the time difference.
"By complete coincidence, I was in New York before Rory died working on a film that we're doing for the BBC on the Isle Of Wight Festival in 1970. None of that footage has ever been seen apart from the half-an-hour of the Jimi Hendrix set. I'm co-producing it. We're going to show it in August as part of the twentyfifth anniversary of that festival. It was Jimi Hendrix's last ever public performance. He died nine days later. And it was The Doors last public performance. It was an absolutely amazing event.
"But it's also the last film version of Taste. They broke up after that. Looking at Rory in that, he was just dead gorgeous. Long, long, flip-floppy hair, gorgeous face and howling guitar. I'd never seen that footage before. Well, nobody has. Donal hasn't even seen it. We're including a track from Taste in the film – which we were doing anyway before Rory died - and I'd arranged for all the rest of the footage of Taste to be transferred from film to tape so that I could give it to Rory ‘cause he'd never seen it either and sadly he never will now. On the BBC on 14th of July we're also going to show the '76 Old Grey Whistle Test Special which has Rory in the most fantastic form. It hasn't been seen since it was first broadcast, I think. And we're putting that out as a tribute to him.

SLASH
"Come again, did you say Rory Gallagher was dead? Jesus. When my manager said you were doing a tribute to Rory, It never connected with me that it was because he was dead. I'm on the road In Finland at the moment and I haven't heard anything. Well, that sure as hell ruins my day.
"Rory was a really big Influence on me. When I was younger, I bought all of his stuff and listened to it devotedly. As far as I'm concerned he's one of the all time great guitar players though I mean I never went out to copy him or anything. I didn't listen to him either to study him because I don't think you should do that really. You should just enjoy the music. And I loved Rory's music.
"Playing with Rory In LA was one of the biggest thrills for me ever."

MARK CAGNEY
"I used to live at the top of St. Patrick's Hill in Cork City. Rory and his family had a pub on the street at the bottom of that McCurtin Street. When I became old enough to get into music, Rory was a quite familiar sight when he would come off tour. He was unique at the time. It's probably hard to believe but there weren't that many people with long hair and he had a very particular hunched over and bouncy gait. And, of course, he had the trademark check shirt always.
"Sightings of him would be reported avidly all over the school. You'd never approach him. You'd just stand staring at him with your mouth open.
"We all had the records naturally and there would be great discourses about them. I remember particularly we all preferred On The Boards 'cause I think, at that age, the first Taste album was actually very heavy, even though there were good tunes like 'Blister on The Moon'. But On The Boards was more accessible and we would have these ridiculous conversations for thirteen or fourteen-year olds like, 'Yeah, Rory's sax playing is really getting good! He played sax on 'Railway And A Gun', which blew us all away."
"When you're in your early teens you also want to emulate your heroes and Rory was easy to emulate because he wore jeans and a lumberjack shirt. There was a shop in Cork - which as far as I know is the biggest retail outlet for Levi and Wrangler denims in the country - called Leaders which sold nothing else except jeans and lumberjack shirts and this was a very practical form of apparel for a thirteen or fourteen-year-old. Your parents would go, 'Oh, you wear one of those. That's brilliant.' So he was a great hero to have for all sorts of reasons but he made you particularly proud because he was one of your own even though at that age you didn't know what that meant.
"He was unbelievably committed to the music that he played and he wasn't into the flash. I have no doubt he was a very wealthy man but that was never Rory's thing. He never went down that road of selling himself and for a young lad interested in rock music growing up in Cork he was a hero. Tailor-made. Perfect."

PAUL RODGERS, ex-Free & Bad Company
"I heard the news last night sitting in a bar In Edmonton and I have to say it completely took the wind out of my sails. We played together, what, six months ago in a place called Vistolla In Italy.
"There's a 16th century square there where they have gigs and he was terrific. The sound he got out of his guitar was totally unique.
"The first time we'd have been on the same bill would have been in the early '70s at the Marquee. I was with Free and I remember thinking to myself, "God, what I wouldn't do to have that guy in this band!"

PIERCE TURNER
"Rory is really up there with the best. For the excitement factor, he was definitely one of the top three live performers I ever saw. His shows were stunning. Early U2 was comparable, when they were at their best, a great high energy band. When Bruce Springsteen was at his best, he was comparable too. Those three were the best high energy acts I ever saw.
"You didn't have to be a blues fan to like Rory Gallagher. His performance was so powerful that it was impossible for anyone to resist. What I admire about Rory too was that he didn't try and conquer the world like those other two acts did. He was content to fill a space and leave it at that. There was something more humble and less pretentious about him than all those other people.
"I saw Taste for the first time in The Opera House in Cork, and I couldn't believe it. The hysteria was incredible. The crowd was rushing the stage and there were bodyguards protecting him. And this was when showbands were ruling the roost herel He was a phenomenon. The first Irish rock star."

JOHN SHEEHAN, The Dubllners
"The Dubliners recorded one of Rory's songs, 'The Barley And Grape Rag', for our thirty years celebration album, and Rory agreed to play on the track himself. We were in awe of playing with the great Rory Gallagher with his big name and reputation, especially doing one of his songs which is very different from our normal repertoire. When the session was finished, I told Rory that it had been great working with him and generally expressed our relief that it had gone well. And, he says, 'Jesus, you've no idea how nervous I was about recording with Dubliners'.
"Even though he was living in London, he had a great knowledge and feeling for what was going on at home. He seemed to have all our albums and had read the sleeve notes and knew all sorts of minute details about Irish acts. His roadie, Tom O'Driscoll, told me at the funeral that he always carried a couple of Dubliners tapes in a plastic bag when he was on tour, and would play them in the car while he was driving around.
"He was a very shy guy and quite nervous when it came to recording. It took a while in the studio for him to psyche himself up until he was ready to go for a take. He was a perfectionist, but a very humble sort of a character, not the type that you'd expect to find in showbusiness at all. An absolutely lovely character."

PHILIP KING
"For me, Rory's death is like an end to a whole part of my life. I was very fond of him. I admired him as a man and as a musician. I admired his attitude and his independence. He had a great, maverick spirit. In 1967, I saw Taste for the first time the night my Inter Cert results came out, in the 006 Club, in Leitrim Street. He was a huge influence. To hear somebody who was Irish, and from Cork, and playing the blues, at that level was really, really exciting and got me involved in music from day one.
"As the years passed, I struck up a relationship with Rory. When I was teaching in the tech in Dundrum, Rory played The Carlton one night. After the gig, I met Rory and chatted away. I went into school the following morning and there was this bunch of kids who were normally very noisy. This morning, there was dead quiet in the room. One guy got up and said, 'Was that you with Rory Gallagher last night?' When I said it was, he said, 'It fuckin' was not'. A big debate then erupted as to how such a bollox of a teacher could be into Rory Gallagher. It broke down a barrier in a funny sort of way.
"I invited Rory to take part in Bringing It All Back Home but it never came to pass. But we have been talking really seriously with the BBC about doing a serious piece work, probably to be based around the now never to be acoustic record. There is a great film to be made and I'd love to do it."

ROD STEWART
"Rory's dead? I'm shocked, so shocked. We used to have the same manager. We used to do tours together with Rory. He was a real good guy, a great player. That's taken me aback, I'm sorry. I can't believe it, man."

PETER AIKEN
"We worked a lot with Rory and really they didn't come any bigger. I mean, he played a week at the Stadium on countless occasions. Likewise, Rory could fill The Ulster Hall for a week at a time, something which any artist nowadays would find extremely difficult. You must remember there was no Point Depot in those days. Both myself and Jim obviously had a lot of contact with Rory and Donal Gallagher and, basically, you couldn't meet two nicer people. Rory was always very polite and, as has been said a lot already, he was an absolute gentleman. As I was a fan since I was in short trousers I consider myself lucky to have met and worked with him.

A statement on behalf of JEFF BECK
Unfortunately Jeff is away from home rehearsing at the moment but we have spoken many times about Rory since news of his illness. It is particularly sad to lose Rory as he was a kindred spirit to Jeff, both might have been a Rolling Stone but good sense prevailed, and he never sought fame at the expense of musical integrity, but continued to make music of the very best quality.
They met only occasionally, did not work together, and were not 'mates' as such but this in no way diminished Jeff's admiration for a great artist.
There are precious few 'rock' musicians with integrity, his place in history is secure.

Tributes compiled by Patrick Brennan