Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
£320 cost of school time honeymoon
synthesizers took over and guitar rock declined, he was a lone, outdated figure.
Reviewers began criticising him for being “numbingly predictable” and he was dropped from his record label. Recordings were discarded as Rory sought a perfection he felt he could never achieve.
His brother Donal said: “He had been under strain... trying to create new music. It became counter-productive.”
The strain began to affect his health. He had always been one of the cleanest
ON RORY GALLAGHER’S TALENT
artists in rock, staying clear of drink and drugs, and was a practising Catholic, still going to Mass at the height of his fame.
But perhaps there is an alcoholism gene that can be passed from father to son, for by the late 1980s he had a serious drink
problem.
Author Julian says: “With a combination of alcohol and various prescription drugs for different ailments, Gallagher had become bloated, too much so for a man just over 40.” Bassist Gerry Mcavoy, who played with Rory for 20 years, said: “I remember one night in Hamburg in 1989 we played for three and a half hours and every minute of it was like hell.
“He couldn’t even remember which songs we’d already played... he looked at me blankly. It was so sad.”
By 1994 Rory was succumbing to more and more physical ailments.
Brother Donal said the combination of alcohol and medication “ruined him from inside, poisoned his blood”. He went on a short tour of the Netherlands but he was too sick to give a coherent show and came home after just a couple of gigs.
The following year he was admitted to King’s College Hospital in London and had a liver transplant. While he was recovering he contracted an infection.
William Rory Gallagher died on June 14, 1995.
It was a sad end for a musician who is still revered across the island of Ireland but especially in Derry and Cork, who both claim him as their own.
Many Irish musicians cite Rory Gallagher as an inspiration, and perhaps Ronnie Drew of The Dubliners said it best when he told Hot Press magazine: “He had the quiet, unassuming way that the truly great have.” A COUPLE prosecuted for taking their daughter out of school for their honeymoon will accept a caution and pay £320 court costs to avoid a criminal record.
Janine and Shane Scott took Elissa, seven, to New York in June.
They were each fined £60 for her “unauthorised absence” from St John’s Cofe Primary, Stocktonon-tees, Co Durham.
They ended up before Teesside magistrates, where Stockton Borough Council made an offer to let them pay costs.
Janine, 28, of Stocktonon-tees, said: “I feel this way the council will not have gained anything.
“We will end up out of pocket, but we have made our point and we do not have a criminal record.”