Co-author of “Stuck In The Middle With You” by Stealers Wheel was 77

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Joe Egan, who co-founded Stealers Wheel with Gerry Rafferty and co-wrote and sang the perennial hit “Stuck in the Middle with You,” died on July 6. He was 77. The news was shared on the late Rafferty’s official Facebook page, but no details were given.

“Very sad news that the other half of Stealers Wheel, Joe Egan, passed away peacefully yesterday afternoon surrounded by his nearest and dearest,” reads the post on Rafferty’s daughter Martha’s page. “I will always remember him as a sweet and gentle soul. May he rest in peace.”

Egan – who originally dreamed of becoming a football star – and Rafferty met as teenagers at St Mirin’s Academy in their hometown of Paisley, Scotland, and formed Stealers Wheel in the early 1970s. Their first two singles were flops, but the third became a rock and pop standard.

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The pair co-wrote and sang lead on “Stuck in the Middle with You,” which shot into the top 10 in the U.S. and U.K. and eventually sold over 2 million copies. Its success propelled the group’s eponymous debut album on A&M Records to No. 50 on the Billboard 200. Listen to the track here:

The song experienced a resurrection when it was heard in a key scene of Quentin Tarantino’s debut film. Reservoir Dogs. The upbeat “Stuck in the Middle with You” was played while Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) happily tortured a policeman and sang and danced to it. A few years later, the cut found its way onto countless “Cowbell” playlists during the Saturday Night Live Sketch “More cowbell”.

“Stuck in the Middle with You” also appeared in dozens of films and television shows over the following decades, including The Guilt Trip, Emergency Room, Gilmore Girls, That ’70s Show, Malcolm in the Middle, Raising Hope, Cold Case, Top Gear And The simpsons.

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The follow-up single, “Everything Will Turn Out Fine,” landed in the Billboard Top 50, and “Star,” a single written by Egan from the group’s second LP, 1973’s Fergusile Park, made it into the top 30 and was later featured in an episode of The wonderful Mrs. MaiselBut this disc and Stealers Wheel’s third album, 1975’s Right or wrong, The success was not enough for a place in the charts and the group disbanded soon after.

Born on October 18, 1946, Egan released two solo albums, Out of nowhere (1979) and Map (1981), but neither of them made it into the charts.

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Rafferty left the band shortly after the first album to focus on a solo career. He released a multiplatinum album in 1978 with From city to city, which included the international hit “Baker Street” as well as the hits “Right Down the Line” and “Home and Dry”. Its follow-up from 1979, Night owl, also sold well and spawned a minor hit with “Get It Right Next Time.”

Rafferty and Egan stayed in touch for decades, although they never reunited. Rafferty died in 2011.