Raphael Ravenscroft

Raphael Ravenscroft (4 June 1954 – 19 October 2014) was a British musician, composer and author. He is best known for playing the saxophone riff on Gerry Rafferty's song "Baker Street". Early life Ravenscroft was born in the district of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, the eldest son of Trevor Ravenscroft, author of the 1972 occult book The Spear of Destiny. He spent much of his childhood in Dumfries, where his father lived. Career Gerry Rafferty and "Baker Street" In January 1978, Scottish singer-musician Gerry Rafferty was recording his first solo material since 1972, and his first material of any kind since the demise of Stealers Wheel in 1975, at Chipping Norton Studios in Oxfordshire. As a then-unknown session musician, Ravenscroft was booked to play saxophone on two tracks on the album, City to City (1978). His contribution included the sax riff on the best-known song from the album and of Rafferty's career, "Baker Street". The song became an international hit, charting at number 3 in the UK and number 2 in the US, and in 2010 was reported to have received 5 million air plays worldwide. 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.