London ( CNN ) -- Singer Gerry Rafferty , famous for the 1970s hits `` Baker Street '' and `` Stuck in the Middle With You , '' has died , his agent said Wednesday . He was 63 . A cause of death was not given . Rafferty was born in 1947 in Paisley , Scotland , near Glasgow , the son of an Irish-born miner , according to Michael Gray , his manager in the late 1970s . Gray wrote Rafferty 's obituary Wednesday in The Guardian newspaper . He was an `` unwanted third son '' whose mother would take him out of the house on Saturday nights when his father would come home drunk , Gray said . The father died when Rafferty was 16 . That same year , Rafferty started work at a butcher 's shop and the tax office , playing music on the weekends with a school friend in a band called the Mavericks , Gray said . Rafferty later joined another band , the Humblebums , with comedian Billy Connolly , Gray said . It was in the 1970s , however , that Rafferty had his heyday . He was a member of the soft-rock group Stealers Wheel when they recorded `` Stuck in the Middle With You , '' an upbeat song that did well on the U.S. charts . The song became a hit for a second time in 1992 after director Quentin Tarantino used it in his movie `` Reservoir Dogs . '' Stealers Wheel fell apart in 1975 , and that 's when Rafferty embarked on the solo career that would make him famous . He recorded the demos for the 1978 album `` City to City '' in his wife 's parents ' house using a four-track machine , playing every instrument himself , Gray wrote . The saxophone-fueled `` Baker Street '' drove sales of the album , which sold 5 million copies and made Rafferty an overnight millionaire , Gray wrote . In `` Baker Street , '' Rafferty sang about disillusionment in the big city , describing a man 's failed search for his dreams . The city has `` got no soul , '' he sang . `` It 's taken you so long to find out you were wrong/When you thought it held everything . '' The song ends with hope , however , with Rafferty ultimately singing about a `` new morning '' and that the man is going home . The follow-up album , 1979 's Night Owl , included the hits `` Days Gone Down , '' `` Get it Right Next Time , '' and the title track . Gray called the songs `` gorgeously produced works of Gerry 's prime . '' Wrote Gray , `` The voice , redolent of both Lennon 's and McCartney 's , yet unmistakably his own ; the music , a shimmering delta of sound ; the songs , romantic yet pushily sardonic -- all came to fruition thanks to Gerry 's gift of perfect pitch and an obdurate determination to stick to his guns . '' iReporter : `` Rock N Roll heaven has a new member '' The following years saw a few more albums and a job producing the Proclaimers ' 1987 hit `` Letter from America . '' His sales and standards declined , however , and he `` spiralled into alcoholism , '' putting on weight and alienating his longtime wife , Carla , Gray said . She finally left in 1990 but the two remained in touch , Gray said . In August of 2008 , Rafferty hit the tabloids after a `` five-day binge at a five-star London hotel '' led management to admit him to a hospital . He retreated to Dorset , England , where he was `` relatively well '' but ultimately sapped of talent . `` For two decades , '' wrote Gray , `` alcohol had dominated this creative and intelligent man 's life . ''
Rafferty had a hit in the 1970s with ` ` Easy Rider '' He was also famous for ` ` Somewhere in the Middle With You '' He battled alcoholism for years .