Raphael Ravenscroft

Early life

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.

Gerry Rafferty & "Baker Street"

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.

The saxophone break on "Baker Street" has been described as "the most famous saxophone solo of all time", "the most recognizable sax riff in pop music history", and "one of the most recognisable saxophone solos of all time".

Ravenscroft worked with Rafferty from 1977 to 1982. As well as the songs he worked on for City to City he contributed to Rafferty's next two albums, Night Owl (1979) and Snakes and Ladders (1980).

In 2011, he recorded a tribute to commemorate the funeral of Gerry Rafferty called "Forgiveness", which combined his saxophone playing with the voices of Grammy-nominated choir Tenebrae.

Other work

From his breakthrough with "Baker Street" he went on to perform with Pink Floyd (The Final Cut, 1983), ABBA and Marvin Gaye. Other Ravenscroft performing credits include work with America, Maxine Nightingale, Daft Punk, Kim Carnes, Mike Oldfield, Chris Rea, Robert Plant, Brand X, Hazel O'Connor and Bonnie Tyler. In 1979, he released the solo album Her Father Didn't Like Me, Anyway (CBS Portrait JR 35683). In 1983, Ravenscroft released the track "Maxine" which gained airplay, but performed poorly on the charts. In 1987, he was credited, along with Max Early and Johnny Patrick for the new theme to the Central Television soap opera Crossroads. His track "A Whole Lot of Something Going On" was sampled by producer Heavy D on the track "Feel It in the Air", by Beanie Sigel.

In 2010, Ravenscroft played on albums and on sessions with Duffy, Mary Hopkin and Jamie Hartman. In 2011-12, Ravenscroft contributed to the album Propeller by Grice.

Ravenscroft wrote several books on saxophone technique including the instruction book, The Complete Saxophone Player (1990).

In 2012, Ravenscroft created the music for a series of films featuring photographer Don McCullin and, during 2011-2012, composed for several major advertising campaigns around the world. In summer 2012 he took a break due to ill health and moved back to Devon.

In 2014, Ravenscroft went to Belgium to set up a saxophone project with the company Adolphe Sax & Cie.

Personal life and death

He married and divorced twice and separated from his third wife in 2009. His daughter is the artist Scarlett Raven. Ravenscroft died on 19 October 2014 at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, aged 60, of a suspected heart attack.