Best Guitarist Lists...

[Ken]

He's who we see ourselves as everytime we strap on an air guitar.

Uh, no. Not really.

[Ken]

Maybe one of these guys instead.

Out of the three, definitely Page, but the point is that I'll pick any one of these over Slash.

[slum_goddess]

puh-leeze! joe satriani and steve vai come to mind. then again, yups and teenage boys read esquire, right? kiwibank, zappa was right, as he was about most things. *sigh* i wish he was still here.

[Ken]

I believe the MTV microphone he's holding says it all.

[DudeAsInCool]

I think that list needs Slashed to bits...

[KiwiCoromandel]

I think that list needs Slashed to bits...

how about an open letter from beatking?...... :read this:

[KiwiCoromandel]

puh-leeze! joe satriani and steve vai come to mind. then again, yups and teenage boys read esquire, right? kiwibank, zappa    was right, as he was about most things. *sigh* i wish he was still here.

steve vai is one of my favourite guitarists......frank zappa taught him a lot of his guitar chops...catch vai and zappa doing an 8 minute version of a little ditty entitled " fuck yourself "...... :)

warning..this is not for the fainthearted...if these lyrics offend then someone can delete them i suppose but it is art and it is bloody good music...that`s my story and i`m sticking to it anyway.....anal and political and social commentary as only frank can do it...plus an amazing, screaming guitar duo from the boys.....excellent brass as well...i have a copy and it is out there in the twilight zone (which is where i seem to be at the moment ).... this one`s for you slash and esquire magazine.... :bigsmile:

FUCK YOURSELF (Frank Zappa / Steve Vai)

Fuck yourself with a rubber hose

Stick it in your mouth and down your throat

Up your nose and in your heinie hole

I don't care where it goes

And it don't matter if you're straight or gay

You should fuck yourself anyway

Now, you don't have to listen to a word I say

But I know you, you'll be humpin' away

Fuck yourself with your neighbor's nose

If you can't use that, use a 10-foot pole

Stick it up your ass and go for a stroll

Everyone will know you've been to this show

Masturbate with some crazy glue

I don't care what you do

Fock yourself with a garden tool

Fuck yourself with politics

Ahh they're full of fuckin' fuckin' shit

I mean you know we've been lied to ever since we were born

It's amazing that we've been getting fucked that long

Fuck yourself with the world wide web

Man you could ride that sucker right from your bed

You may even meet a Tom, Dick, Jane or Billy

Then grab onto your modem and fuck yourself silly

Fuck yourself with your heart and soul

Give it everything you got, hey I'm talkin' to you

If you can't even fuck yourself,

How ya gonna fuck somebody else?

Fuck yourself with my microphone

I'll give it to you later when we're all alone

We can turn it up loud

And see if you come, but

Don't get your jizz on my microphone

Fuck yourself with organized religion

Now that is some seriously sinnin' business

If the Lord sees their pathetic crimes

He'll be fuckin' them 'til the end of time

And can someone explain to me this racist crap

I know it isn't white, but it isn't black

And to all you people who only see things your way

Well, you can suck my dick and take all day

Fuck your nose with a pound of blow

Watch your money get up and go

but when you burnt your brain and you say

I don't know!

I hate to tell you but I told you so

Fuck yourself with this grunge rock noise

I mean, stuff those albums in your groin

They come down on me because I know how to play -

Hey... fuck you!

Fuck yourself with a copy of Rolling Stone

Or are they too holy for your holiest of holes

Now those people think they're holier than Moses

But aren't they just a bunch of fuckin' posers

Fuck yourself with your mother's jewelry

I won't tell, I ain't a stooly

If you pounce hard enough you'll cough up a ruby

Your blood will be rich and so will your doodie

Fuck yourself with the latest fashion

With your spikes and your hair and those cute little buttons

And if you happen to have some leather and lace

Fuck yourself 'til you're blue in the face

Fuck yourself with your income tax

They're fucking you and that's a fact

Before you know it your money's all spent

And you've just been fucked by the government

Fuck yourself with your lawyer friend

You're the only one that's getting fucked in the end

I have been so fucked by legal bills

that my asshole is the size of Beverly Hills

Fuck yourself with your full-length sweater

With your minks and your diamonds and your Irish Setter

With your cash and your trash and your sinks and your drinks

Just fuck yourself 'til you can't even think

Those of you who enjoy this song

thank you thank you, I love you

Let's get it on

But for those of you who are totally outraged

Fuck yourself with your face

[KiwiCoromandel]

Rory Gallagher.......Taste

Rory Gallagher will be remembered as an uncompromising musician and one of the finest slide guitar players in the world. In addition to his mastery of the dynamics of a Fender Stratocaster in overdrive, Gallagher excelled on the Dobro, mandolin, mandola, harmonica and saxophone.

Gallagher became one of Ireland's first real rock stars while fronting the power trio Taste, a promising group that essentially imploded due to ego conflicts and internal tensions. Rising above the turmoil in 1970, Gallagher went on to launch a prolific solo career steeped in rock, jazz and blues. During the twenty or so years that followed, the guitar-slinging Irishman sold 30 million records and toured extensively worldwide. Gallagher attained fantastic commercial success in Europe and mounted no fewer than 25 full-scale United States tours over the years. Overseas, he played at numerous major blues and rock festivals, including Kempton Park, Sunbury (with Taste) in 1968, and the Reading Festival, at which he performed more times than any other act. Gallagher developed an image as an adventurous yet direct bluesman who eschewed commercialism in favor of musical integrity.

"When I listen to something I like, I like to be taken out of my seat and thrown across the room," Gallagher once said. "I like guts, a good drive, which can include gentle stuff too. If it sounds good and feels good, that's it."

Quotes like that, coupled with the intensity of most of his music, might lead one to think that Rory Gallagher was a fierce character, a mean ball of energy likely to explode into action at a moment's notice. Surprisingly, Gallagher was almost the complete antithesis of his aggressive music, as he was known for being quiet, friendly, soft-spoken and eager to please.

Gallagher (b. March 2, 1948, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal, Ir.; d. June 14, 1995) grew up in the city of Cork and, as a young boy in the 1950s, listened to skiffle musician Lonnie Donegan (who popularized folk-blues), bluesmen such as Leadbelly, and other the rock'n'roll stars of the period, including Eddie Cochran, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino and Buddy Holly.

At age nine, Gallagher acquired his first acoustic guitar, which he taught himself to play using tutorial books. By the following year, the young Gallagher was performing in public, entering local talent competitions and playing at school functions and other social events. He formed a skiffle band with his brother, Donal, on washboard, and another friend on tea-chest bass.

When he was 12, Rory won a talent competition at Cork City Hall and his picture was published in the local newspaper. That same year, he got his first electric guitar, a Rosetti Solid VII. He formed his first band the next year, but gigs were hard to find and they only played a couple of dates at the Cork Boat Club in Blackrock before disbanding. Gallagher tried unsuccessfully to form other bands, but at the time there was little demand for teenage rock'n'roll bands in Cork. Undaunted, he continued playing, and by the time he was 15, he purchased the famous 1961 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster that became his trademark, paying a small fortune of £100.

In 1964, frustrated by his inability to get a band together, Gallagher responded to an advertisement for a guitarist in the Cork Examiner that led to his becoming a member of the Fontana Show Band. "We played all over Ireland, toured Spain and did a couple of English gigs," Gallagher once recounted. "It turned out to be great fun. We were luckier than most show bands; the drummer wanted to do Jim Reeves stuff but the rest of us wanted to play 'Nadine' and 'A Shot of Rhythm and Blues.'"

While not a fan of show bands, Gallagher was attracted to the idea of performing before an audience while plugged into an amplifier. Show bands dominated the Irish concert landscape in the early 1960s. Basically Irish dance bands, show bands would perform a mixture of Irish music, country and western, comedy numbers and Top 20 hits. Gallagher was eager to perform rhythm and blues and rock numbers, but he had to cater to public expectations and perform the popular hits of the day, including some dreaded novelty numbers. He was eventually allowed to perform covers of Chuck Berry songs and other rock'n'roll numbers as well as a couple of his own compositions. The Fontana Show Band played in large dance halls a couple of nights a week around Cork, Kerry and Limerick, averaging 2,000 people at each show. They performed regularly at the Arcadia in Cork, where they would play the interval slots for headlining show bands and visiting British "beat" groups such as the Searchers and the R&B-oriented Animals.

While the Fontana Show Band was touring Britain in 1964, Gallagher would spend his off-duty nights checking out the groups playing at the Marquee Club in London. Blues-driven beat music was becoming wildly popular and Gallagher was influenced by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, particularly Stones' guitarist Brian Jones-the first musician he ever saw play the slide guitar. Gallagher also liked the Big Three, a trio from Liverpool that favored obscure American R&B numbers played in a wild, raucous style. He was particularly impressed by their guitarist, Brian "Griff" Griffiths.

In an attempt to shed the band's image, the Fontana Show Band changed their name to the Impact, with the intent of evolving into a beat group. In April 1965, the Impact appeared on the Irish TV show Pickin' the Pops, a program where a guest panelist predicted which records would chart. Gallagher and the Impact were expected to perform a Buddy Holly number, "Valley of Tears," which they had rehearsed. At the last minute, Gallagher decided to perform the Larry Williams rocker "Slow Down," much to the consternation of the show's producers but to the delight of an audience unaccustomed to the sight of a long-haired musician.

Later that year, the group secured a six-week summer residency at an American air base located near Madrid, Spain. Although they still had to continue to perform the hits of the day, they played a lot of Chuck Berry and rock'n'roll numbers, including several originals penned by Gallagher. But by the time the group returned to London in late 1965, Gallagher was becoming increasingly disillusioned with the band. The Impact split up shortly afterward and their manager approached Gallagher about forming a new band to honor some of the Impact's dates in Hamburg, Germany. Gallagher recruited the Impact's former bassist, Oliver Tobin, along with a drummer named Johnny Campbell, to follow through on the three-week engagement.

Other than the Big Three, a three-piece lineup was virtually unprecedented at the time. Since promoters expected a minimum of four musicians, the group had publicity photos taken with a friend posing with an organ. Upon arriving at the gigs, they would tell club managers that the fourth member had appendicitis and couldn't make the trip. Each night the trio performed six grueling 45-minute sets with 15-minute breaks, and it was here that Gallagher first experienced the pro guitarist's occupational hazard-getting "blisters on blisters" on his hands. After returning to Ireland in late 1965, even this hardy trio decided they'd had enough.

Following the breakup of his first three-piece band, Gallagher formed another in Cork with bassist Eric Kitteringham and drummer Norman D'Amery, both formerly of the Axels Show Band. Gallagher had played with both musicians while they were still with the Axels, filling in for their guitarist on some remaining dates before they disbanded. The new band called themselves Taste.

Gallagher had by now taken a strong interest in the blues, particularly the music of Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed and other American bluesmen. Early Taste played a mixture of R&B, blues and rock'n'roll. While the group continued to perform covers, such as Booker T. and the MGs' "Green Onions" and songs from the Chuck Berry catalog, they also wrote and played their own material.

By 1966, beat music had found its way to Cork and a more active club scene emerged. Gallagher's new band found work at local clubs but encountered opposition to their three-piece lineup from the Federation of Irish Musicians. The Federation, whose membership was comprised largely of show band musicians, had strict rules regarding the minimum number of players required for each performance-usually seven or eight-and it actively enforced the minimum quota. The issue came to a head during Taste's first booking at the Arcadia in Cork when the Federation attempted to prevent the trio from performing. Eventually, the Federation offered a compromise: If Taste would audition for the union, the union would consider giving approval to the performance. The three members of Taste, however, were seasoned veterans of show bands and refused to subject themselves to an audition. Ultimately, Taste prevailed and the union backed down. The group proceeded with their performance, and in doing so also established a precedent for other beat groups that followed.

During early 1967, the group found work in Cork and Dublin, and Gallagher also returned to Hamburg with the band. Taste relocated to Belfast and obtained a residency at the Maritime Hotel, which had a 200-capacity ballroom. Three years earlier, Van Morrison and Them had been the house band for the Maritime before the band relocated to London. Taste made a few recordings at the Maritime Hotel that were issued in 1974 as In the Beginning, 1967: Early Taste of Rory Gallagher.

While in Belfast, the group supported many visiting British groups, including John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation and more significantly, Cream, the premier blues trio of the day. This led to work and a few gigs in London, particularly at the famed Marquee, where all the up-and-coming groups performed. London was a hotbed of blues-rock activity, so the group decided to move there in May 1968. Sometime during or after the move, the original Taste split up and by August, Gallagher found new supporting musicians: Richard McCracken on bass and John Wilson on drums. Both were Irish musicians who had met each other in the Derek and the Sounds Show Band, and Wilson had also briefly been a member of Them.

While in London, the band performed regularly at the Speakeasy nightclub and quickly landed a weekly spot at the Marquee, playing their first gig there on February 10, 1968. "We got the residency after doing a few there and we built up a following. It gave us the chance of competition and solid work every Tuesday night-it was a real morale booster," Gallagher later recalled. Ariola issued recordings of the band's October 25, 1968, Marquee gig in 1987.

Taste also generated a buzz on their first visit to Denmark in late 1968. The Danish Daily praised the band for their originality: "Taste does not belong to the purists and stylists. They do not belong to the introspective self-pawing and oh-so-emotional vegetables who torture the British blues with their despairing elegies. They belong to the few greats who have made the blues their very own-and their times'-expression." The review went on to predict that by the following year, Taste "with no difficulty whatsoever will inherit Cream [stature] and make themselves one of the biggest and best phenomenons beat music has ever experienced."

Taste, along with Yes, supported Cream during Cream's farewell concert on November 25, 1968, at Royal Albert Hall. Chris Welch, reviewing the show for Melody Maker, was not particularly impressed: "The Taste proved a personal disappointment although they were well-received (apart from somebody laughing heartily during a particularly passionate blues ditty). Perhaps they were nervous, but the lead guitarist seemed to be playing a lot of dodgy chords and 'Summertime' did not convince."

The group recorded their eponymous first album live on a rudimentary eight-track machine. Released in April 1969 on Polydor Records, Taste contained several strong tracks, including "Blister on the Moon," "Leaving Blues," "Born on the Wrong Side of Time" and "Same Old Story," but reviews were mixed. Melody Maker declared, "What they lack in style they make up in energy and enthusiasm," while New Musical Express stated, "This LP tends to be overbearing . . . but there's some goodness there as well."

While the album went unnoticed in the U.S. and U.K., it reached the Top Ten in Holland. To coincide with the release, Major Minor Records issued an old recording (made by the previous lineup) as a single. It consisted of "Blister on the Moon" backed with "Born on the Wrong Side of Town." Both sides of the single were early versions of songs appearing on the first LP, although the B-side was re-titled "Born on the Wrong Side of Time" for the album.

Taste soon became major headliners in Europe, and in the summer of 1969 they received even greater exposure when they toured the U.S. with Blind Faith. Gallagher started to incorporate jazz influences into his music and the group's live performances offered band members an opportunity to stretch out and improvise while still maintaining a blues base. Gallagher told Hit Parader, "We work things out as we go. We don't want to ever play it safe . . . it may fall really flat some nights, but you will be sure never to hear the same thing twice." He also commented on his progression to Melody Maker: "We listen to jazz but we're not wrapped up in the jazz thing. Obviously, the numbers are becoming more complex but that doesn't stop me from taking up the bottleneck and taking it back to something very traditional and simple."

In January 1970, Taste released their second album, On the Boards, to unanimous critical acclaim. Beat Instrumental declared, "For sheer variety alone, the album is first class, and should make a substantial contribution towards giving Taste the success they deserve." Melody Maker commented, "Taste have matured; that is the basic difference between their debut album of last year and this collection of Rory Gallagher songs." In its review of the album, New Musical Express compared Taste to the icons of British blues: "Taste isn't quite a blues group and it wouldn't be right to describe them strictly as progressive, but they have an original bluesy style that is good and gutsy and reminiscent of the Stones or the Yardbirds circa 1964 in formation." Lester Bangs, writing for Rolling Stone, distinguished Taste from other blues bands by observing, "The band as a whole is so tight and compelling, the songs so affecting, and the experiments and improvisations so clearly thought-out, that it seems a shame to even suggest that Taste be classed in any way with that great puddle of British blues bands. Everybody else is just wood shedding, Taste have arrived."

On the Boards reached #18 on the British charts and #33 in Germany. With a successful album behind them, the band's reputation spread fast and it seemed that Taste were poised for a big breakthrough. Beat Instrumental predicted, "The year of the Taste may well be 1970, on the strength both of their current album and of a return tour of the States."

While the second U.S. trek in fact never came about, the band did tour Europe, including Scandinavia. However, by the time they played the Isle of Wight Festival on August 28, 1970, relations between Gallagher and the other two members of the band had become strained to the point where they refused to speak to one another. Despite this tension and lack of communication, they put on a competent performance that was captured on an album released two years later. (A film about the festival-one beset by crowd control problems-captured a shapely girl in the audience who became so moved and excited by Gallagher's Telecaster slide guitar during "Sinner Boy" that she stripped naked and then streaked in front of the stage. Nonplussed backstage security staff at once forcefully removed her as the crowd roared their displeasure at this over-zealous "police state" spectacle.)

In the fall, Polydor Records sponsored Taste's first major tour of Britain, with support from Scottish group Stone the Crows and American singer Jake Holmes. During this tour, the sense of uneasiness grew among the band members with Gallagher effectively isolated from his rhythm section. Such friction inevitably affected their performances, as noted by this review in Melody Maker: "Taste swept into exciting yet totally unkempt and direction-less blues." The magazine then acknowledged, "Taste did have some good moments, but once into them, they musically took the easy way out, and for some totally inexplicable reason, for the talent IS there."

While on the verge of breaking up, the band ironically saw their popularity reach massive proportions. In the article called "Is Fan Worship Coming Back?" published on September 12, 1970, Melody Maker grouped Taste with some of the biggest names of the day: "TASTE, Moody Blues, Free and Ten Years After-their musical policies may differ tremendously, but they all have something strikingly in common-they are today's hell raisers. They are today's front-line bands who are creating something we had almost forgotten existed-HYSTERIA." That same issue carried the front page headline, "Taste Fight Split," which reported, "Taste narrowly averted a split last week when disagreements between themselves threatened to wreck the group."

Finally, mercifully, the group disbanded the following month. Melody Maker reported in its October 17, 1970, issue, "Taste will split on Saturday night and that's final." Taste's manager, Eddie Kennedy, explained some of the tensions to the magazine: "Gallagher was under the impression that HE employed Wilson and McCracken, and had in fact always been under this impression. They were purely working for HIS purposes." Moreover, drummer John Wilson complained in the same article, "The matter became absurd just before the start of last month's Polydor tour, when Gallagher demanded that he be given all tour earnings, so he could seemingly pay us whatever he felt like paying us. That was just going too far. We couldn't carry on." Wilson also remarked, "We wanted to be recognized as equals with Rory. But instead it was Rory this, and Rory that. I just wish someone had spoken to us about things."

Melody Maker then wrote, "The tragic thing about the split is that neither Gallagher, Wilson or McCracken wanted it to happen. Already £35,000 worth of bookings have had to be canceled. The group has been causing a storm throughout Europe-and their Irish tour has brought scenes that can only be compared with Beatlemania."

For his part, Gallagher refused to talk about the breakup and it remained an extremely sensitive topic throughout his life. His brother, Donal, who was his road manager at the time, blames the breakup on financial mismanagement on the part of the group's manager.

Polydor released two posthumous albums in the U.K. after the group's demise, Live Taste, recorded at the Montreux Casino, and the aforementioned Isle of Wight performance. Following the breakup, Wilson and McCracken teamed up with Jim Cregan, former guitarist with Blossom Toes, to form Stud. Stud issued three albums before disbanding in 1973.

Taste's disintegration and its aftermath was a traumatic period for Gallagher, but he overcame it and created another all-Irish three-piece. This time, the rhythm section consisted of drummer Wilgar Campbell and bassist Gerry McAvoy, both formerly of Deep Joy. McAvoy was a native of Belfast, Ireland, and would become a fixture in Gallagher's bands for the next 20 years. Gallagher had met McAvoy a couple of years earlier in Belfast, and Deep Joy had subsequently supported Taste on a few shows in England.

Despite all his success, Gallagher had nothing to show for it and reportedly even had to borrow money from his mother to record his first solo album in the winter of 1970. The self-produced record, simply titled Rory Gallagher, was released on May 7, 1971. Consisting of ten tracks, all composed by Gallagher, the album was a varied collection highlighted by two concert favorites-"Laundromat" and "Sinner Boy." The trio was augmented by the late Vincent Crane, keyboardist in Atomic Rooster, who contributed his piano playing to two tracks.

The solo release garnered favorable reactions in the U.K. Melody Maker opined, "Well, this is Rory-unabridged, downhome Rory Gallagher, doing precisely what he wants to do, and it's damned good. Gallagher has all the makings, all the trimmings, all the texture to be an absolute monster, and this first album since the fall of Taste is yet another pointer in that direction." Reaction in the U.S. was less enthusiastic, and Lester Bangs greeted the release with downright hostility. Writing for Phonograph Record, Bangs insisted, "This is one of the most positively moribund albums to come down the pike." Bangs also commented on the breakup of Taste, reminding fans, "The other cats [John Wilson and Richard McCracken] were saying things like he [Rory Gallagher] picked up the checks and paid them at rigid scale like one-nighter Chuck Berry sidemen or something. So now a little over a year later we have this album . . . [with] his fat ego flying free and it's one of the most noticeably vacuous releases of the season." Bangs's pontificating had little sway with the British record buying public, however. The album fared reasonably well, reaching #32 on the U.K. charts. In support of it, the group went on a British tour in May, followed by an Irish tour and a stint in the U.S. in October.

Later that year, the band recorded their second album, Deuce. Released in November, it was another hard-edged blues collection that reached #39 on the British charts.

A tour of Europe in February and March of 1972 was documented in the highly charged album, Live in Europe. A mixture of blues covers ("Bullfrog Blues," "I Could've Had Religion" and "Messin' with the Kid") with original compositions, Live in Europe was his most successful album to date, reaching #9 in the British charts and #32 in Germany. Gallagher also found time during the year to record with his hero, Muddy Waters, on the Muddy Waters-London Sessions album.

In June, Gallagher formed a new lineup, retaining bassist Gerry McAvoy and adding two former members of Killing Floor, Rod De'Ath (drums) and Lou Martin (keyboards). This lineup stayed together for the next five albums spread over six years.

In its September 30, 1972, issue, Melody Maker published its annual poll results. The readers selected Rory Gallagher as their top guitar player, dethroning none other than Eric Clapton in the process. But perhaps the most fitting affirmation of Gallagher's stature as a rock'n'roll musician is that when Mick Taylor left the Rolling Stones in 1974, Rory's name was on the short list of probable replacements.

Throughout the rest of his career, Gallagher stayed true to his vision and released a series of solid, blues-oriented works. With supporting musicians McAvoy, De'Ath and Martin, Rory recorded Blueprint (1973, U.K. #12), Tattoo (1973, U.K. #32), and Irish Tour '74 (U.K. #36). Irish Tour '74 was undoubtedly his most significant accomplishment of this period. Recorded in early 1974, the Irish concerts documented his performances at the peak of his career. The tour was filmed and became the subject of a documentary by director Tony Palmer.

In 1975, Gallagher signed to Chrysalis and recorded Against the Grain (1975) and Calling Card (1976, U.K. #32). During the sessions for Calling Card, which took place at Musicland Studios in Munich, he attended sessions for the Rolling Stones' Black and Blue album.

Gallagher embarked on his tenth American tour in 1976 and had the distinction of being the first artist to perform on a Eurovision television transmission to over 100 million people.

In 1977, he recorded an album in San Francisco but was dissatisfied with the results. He disbanded his four-piece band, keeping only bassist Gerry McAvoy, and added drummer Ted McKenna, formerly of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band. The new group recorded the hard-driving Photo-Finish (1978) album in Europe, re-recording many of the same tracks previously attempted in San Francisco.

This lineup released two more albums, Top Priority (1979, U.K. #56) and the live album Stage Struck (1980, U.K. #40), before changing drummers yet again in May 1981 when Brenden O'Neil replaced McKenna on drums. Together, they then recorded Jinx (1982, U.K. #68); Defender, which included the free 7" "Seems to Me" backed with "No Peace for the Wicked" (1987); and Fresh Evidence (1990).

Following an American tour in 1991, McAvoy and O'Neil left Rory Gallagher's band to form Nine Below Zero. Gallagher recruited a new lineup and continued touring until late in 1994, when he fell seriously ill while touring in Europe.

Following complications from a liver transplant, Rory Gallagher died on June 14, 1995, in King's College Hospital, London.

[DudeAsInCool]

Saw him when he was in Taste as part of Cream's Farewell Concert Tour - he was a wicked guitar player