Rory Gallagher

Rory Gallagher While in the band Taste, with John Wilson and Richard McCracken.

Rory Gallagher was of those musicians who lived to play. His gigs were intense spiritual events, often featuring long , improvised solos. In that way he was more like an African, Asian or Arab musician... read more who can play for hours helping the audience reach a meditative state.

I think he had just played at the Cleveland Agora the night before, and I was going to the hotel to conduct an interview with Rory - and do some photos of him -for a local newspaper. I'd only started... read more shooting in 1974, but I realized how important it was to break the ice (break down the barrier between subject and photographer). A street vendor was selling flowers so I bought a white carnation and took it up to Rory when I met him.<br><br>He was in his room drinking hot chocolate (cocoa -- whatever you call it), which I thought was "different" (not coffee; not tea; cocoa). Anyhow, Rory was soft-spoken, kind of a shy, and he really liked the gesture of bringing him a flower and held it as he spoke to me during the interview, and did so while I was photographing him. He was so soft-spoken and gentle inside, yet he could rip away at that guitar onstage and make it scream the blues.

Rory Gallagher with is band Gerry McAvoy and Wilgar Campbell. Performing in London.