Two of today's celebrity birthdays in the paper are singer Gerry Rafferty and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who both turn 60. Gerry and Kareem were both born on April 16, 1947, one day after Jackie Robinson entered the major leagues, and have led near parallel lives for the last 60 years.
In the late 60s, Gerry Rafferty started his musical career in a folk duo called the Humblebums with Billy Connolly (yes, that Billy Connolly!) while Lew Alcindor was leading John Wooden's UCLA Bruins to an 88-2 record and three straight NCAA basketball titles. In the early 1970s, Rafferty went on to form Stealer's Wheel with Joe EGANEly, and had a major hit with "Stuck in the Middle With You", while Lew Alcindor converted to Islam, changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and helped lead the Milwaukee Bucks to the 1970-71 NBA title.
In the mid-1970s, Stealer's Wheel broke up and Kareem was traded to the Lakers, but both Gerry and Kareem continued to be successful. Rafferty had two mega hit singles on his 1978 City to City album ("Baker Street" and "Right Down The Line") while Kareem starred for the LA Lakers and started acting in movies (Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon and the Zucker brothers' Airplane! being the most known) .
According to imdb, Gerry Rafferty hasn't appeared in any movies, but his best-known songs "Baker Street" and "Stuck In The Middle" have appeared in lots of soundtracks. And Gerry isn't Muslim like Kareem, but he has worked with Richard Thompson, who is. So they're almost like non-identical twins.
In the late 60s, Gerry Rafferty started his musical career in a folk duo called the Humblebums with Billy Connolly (yes, that Billy Connolly!) while Lew Alcindor was leading John Wooden's UCLA Bruins to an 88-2 record and three straight NCAA basketball titles. In the early 1970s, Rafferty went on to form Stealer's Wheel with Joe EGAN
In the mid-1970s, Stealer's Wheel broke up and Kareem was traded to the Lakers, but both Gerry and Kareem continued to be successful. Rafferty had two mega hit singles on his 1978 City to City album ("Baker Street" and "Right Down The Line") while Kareem starred for the LA Lakers and started acting in movies (Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon and the Zucker brothers' Airplane! being the most known) .
According to imdb, Gerry Rafferty hasn't appeared in any movies, but his best-known songs "Baker Street" and "Stuck In The Middle" have appeared in lots of soundtracks. And Gerry isn't Muslim like Kareem, but he has worked with Richard Thompson, who is. So they're almost like non-identical twins.
6 comments:
Plus, if you play the official NBA Kareem Abdul-Jabbar highlight film and sync up The Best of Gerry Rafferty when the word "Baker" appears in the film's credits (it does! It's true!), the two reveal certain other mystical connections between the two birthday boys!
Also, Rafferty has a secretary named Abdul-Jabbar and Abdul-Jabbar has a secretary named Mrs. Lipschutz, but she's got a similar singing style. And they were both shot in the head, exactly 100 years apart.
Ha! Great post, SH. Only thing: Gerry Rafferty was in Stealers Wheel with Joe Egan (no relation to Walter "Magnet and Steel" Egan), not Joe Ely. Joe Ely is the Texas honky-tonk country-rocker who was in the Flatlanders with Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore and who famously toured Europe with the Clash. Live at Liberty Lunch is a great album!
Only thing: Gerry Rafferty was in Stealers Wheel with Joe Egan (no relation to Walter "Magnet and Steel" Egan), not Joe Ely.
I knew THAT. It wrote this without checking AMG or wikipedia, and just whiffed on the other guy in Stealer's Wheel.
Damn. All this time, my mind had it filed away that Walter Egan *was* in Stealers Wheel. And why is there no apostrophe in that band's name? Or is it a reference to stealers and their practice of wheeling?
"Stealers Wheel" was a record-company misprint of the band's true name, Steelers Wheel, that the band decided to stick with. They originally chose "Steelers Wheel" because Joe Egan and Terry Bradshaw were born on the same day.
Post a Comment