Rory Gallagher: Ireland’s master of the blues

Marcus Connaughton has written the definitive biography of legendary guitarist Rory Gallagher, writes Ed Power

IT HAS been a long journey for Marcus Connaughton. He first saw Rory Gallagher play in 1968. Ever since, he has wanted to tell the story of an artist he describes as Ireland’s first rock star. Four and a half decades later that dream has finally been fulfilled with the publication of Rory Gallagher – His Life and Times, a book that will surely come to be regarded as the definitive account of the Cork bluesman’s dramatic rise and tragic death at just 47.

“My introduction to Rory in a live context was at the National Boxing Stadium in Dublin,” says Connaughton, who also works for RTÉ Radio 1. “It was the early lineup of his band Taste. Rory was our first rock star. Van Morrison was on the west coast of America by then. Phil Lynott came afterwards. Anybody who ever practised guitar in front of the wardrobe mirror with a tennis racket or a hurley was emulating Rory.”