Raphael Ravenscroft

Raphael Ravenscroft
Ravenscroft in 2014
Background information
Born	(1954-06-04)4 June 1954 Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England
Died	19 October 2014(2014-10-19) (aged 60) Exeter, Devon, England
Genres	Rock jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician composer author
Instruments	Saxophone
Associated acts	Gerry Rafferty

Raphael Ravenscroft (4 June 1954 – 19 October 2014) was a British musician, composer and author.

While his place of birth is disputed, the England and Wales Birth Index places it at Stoke-on-Trent. He spent much of his young life in Dumfries, where his father lived.

In January 1978, Scottish singer-musician Gerry Rafferty released his first solo material since 1972 and first material of any kind since the demise of Stealers Wheel in 1975. A then unheralded session musician, Raphael Ravenscroft was asked to play the saxophone on the album City to City (1978). Ravenscroft's contribution included the sax riff on the best-known song from the album and of Rafferty's career, "Baker Street". The song was an international hit, charting at number 3 in the UK and number 2 in the US. "Baker Street" was reported in 2010 as having received 5 million air plays worldwide to date. City to City reached number 1 in the US album charts and went platinum. In the UK the album reached number 6 and went gold.

Ravenscroft told the BBC's The One Show in 2010 that he was only paid £27.50 for the "Baker Street" session, which was the Musicians' Union rate at the time. It has been (falsely) reported that the cheque bounced and that it was kept on the wall of Ravenscroft's solicitors; by contrast the song is said to have earned Rafferty £80,000 a year in royalties. In a radio interview in 2011, Ravenscroft said the song annoyed him. "I'm irritated because it's out of tune," he said. "Yeah, it's flat. By enough of a degree that it irritates me at best."

Ravenscroft mostly refused to play "Baker Street" during interviews. The last time Ravenscroft played "Baker Street" was in the summer of 2014 when he organised a charity gala concert in Exeter for Nicole Hartup, the 12-year-old city schoolgirl who died in a fall.