Rory Gallagher was born on March 2nd, 1948 in Ballyshanon, Co. Donegal, Ireland. Later his family moved to Cork where his maternal grandparents lived. At age nine, he picked up an acoustic guitar and self-taught. His heroes were ELVIS, WOODY GUTHRIE, LONNIE DONEGAN,
MUDDY WATERS, LEADBELLY ...........with some of them he performed later. Soon he started winning talent show awards. His music career begun when, age 15, he joined a local show band "FONTANA". In '63 he purchased a second-hand '61 model Sunburst Stratocaster which would lose almost all the paints due to his practices and stage battles. When this band was broken up in '66, he formed "TASTE" with 2
other members. In '68 the band had members change. Although the group was begining to be recognized as a rising star in Europe, due to difference of musical preference and managemental problems they broke up in 1970.
Since then Rory had been on his own with his band for 25 years. In the '70's when everybody avoided going to Northern Ireland, he performed tours that included Belfast during Christmas time.
His tour schedules were almost like crazy. Countless tours in western Europe, many gigs in North America, four Japanese Tours, Australia........ After all those incomparable performances and many recordings, he collapsed during a tour in January 1995. On June 14th, 1995, he passed away, due to a complication from pneumonia after a successful liver transplant in London. He was only 47 years old. Mixed up dosage of prescription drugs by different doctors for years (plus alcohol) is to blame.
Although he had left us eleven years ago, his music is still heard around the world. He was not only a gifted musician but also a decent, down-to-earth, lovable human being. He loved to share and enjoy his music with his audience. Stories you hear from his fans over and over again how he treated them like as he knew them personally prove that.