(CelebrityAccess) — Joe Egan, a founding member and songwriter for the legendary ’70s rock band Stealers Wheel, died on July 6. He was 77.
His death was announced on the official Facebook page of former Stealers Wheel co-founder and bandmate Gerry Rafferty on Sunday.
Born in Scotland in 1946, Egan and Rafferty, a school friend he met at the Catholic St Mirin’s Academy, founded Stealers Wheel in 1972. The group achieved breakthrough success the following year when their single “Stuck in the Middle With You” cracked the top ten in both the UK and U.S.
The song was the high point for the band, who parted ways in 1975 after failing to replicate the success of their breakout single.
Following the dissolution of Stealers Wheel, Egan pursued a solo career and released a pair of albums, including 1979’s “Out of Nowhere” and 1981’s “Map.”
However, the albums failed to resonate with fans, prompting Egan to step away from the music industry in the early 1990s.
Stealers Wheel enjoyed a resurgence in the late 1990s and early 2000s, after the noted filmmaker Quentin Tarantino used “Stuck In The Middle With You” as the musical backdrop for a macabre torture scene in his 1992 cult classic “Reservoir Dogs.”
A cause of death for Egan was not disclosed.
