Rory Gallagher

Book excerpt: 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. Acknowledged as one of the world's leading guitarists, he collaborated with his boyhood hero Muddy Waters, and 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 checked shirts and his astounding dexterity on acoustic and electric guitar – the guitarist and blues man who blazed a trail for others to follow.