Rory Gallagher was slated to join Cream — the revolutionary power trio featuring Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker — after Clapton announced his departure from the group in 1968, less than two years after it formed.
So claims Donal Gallagher, the guitarist's brother, who says Cream's management saw the young Irish rocker as a way to keep the group alive and continue to reap the financial rewards.
History remembers Cream as the band that brought psychedelic, hard rock stylings to electric blues. Clapton was inspired to form a free-wheeling three-piece after watching Buddy Guy at London’s Marquee Club in 1965. The result was Cream, so named for the talents of its players, who represented the best in British blues and jazz in the mid 1960s. Despite their deserved legendary status, the band imploded after constant in-fighting — particularly between bass player Bruce and drummer Baker — pushed Clapton to the brink..
Speaking to Guitar World in 1997, Baker recounted when the band’s inevitable death knell rang.
“After a gig in Texas in 1968, Eric came to me and said, ‘I’ve had enough.’ And I said, ‘So have I.’ And that was it. We decided, for different reasons, that it was all over.
"When Cream died, it died. Short of murder, we couldn’t solve a problem between us.”
Donal Gallagher says that's when Cream's backers eyed Rory, who thought the blues guitar player was a worthy successor to Clapton.
By November 1968, Gallagher was forging quite the reputation with his own power trio, Taste. Allegedly even Jimi Hendrix was a fan. When asked how it felt to be the world’s greatest guitarist, Jimi reportedly replied, “I don’t know, you’ll have to ask Rory Gallagher.”
Although Gallagher's notoriety in guitar circles was growing exponentially, commercial success evaded him. Cream’s management believed they had the power to change his fortunes.
“It was very much a management thing — ‘Find somebody to replace Clapton,’” Dónal revealed in a 2009 interview with Guitar World. Gallagher, however, wasn’t for the taking.
“Rory was known to them, and they got on well,” his brother continues. “But Rory wouldn't have any of it. He said, ‘Musically, there's no way I'd try and fill somebody else's shoes, especially Eric's.’”
"Short of murder, we couldn’t solve a problem between us.”
— Ginger Baker
Dónal said Rory knew accepting the offer would have been a “fast track” to fame and money, but he wasn’t looking for shortcuts.
“He felt that he would never be his own man,” Dónal concludes.
Like Eric, Rory was a devotee of blues, but there is no guarantee he would have fit with Cream any better than Clapton had. As Bruce explained to Guitarist in 2012, he believed Clapton was the odd man out in Cream, considering his two bandmates were far better versed in jazz.
“Eric thought he was going to have this little blues trio and be like Buddy Guy,” Bruce said. "We had different ideas.”
Ultimately, Rory’s quest led Taste to breakup two years later as a solo career beckoned. His talents have become more widely recognized since his untimely passing in 1995. Evidence of that was clear when his heavily worn 1961 Stratocaster sold at auction for $1.16 million late last year. Thanks to a successful campaign to ensure the Strat remained on Irish soil, the guitar was donated to the National Museum of Ireland.
Joe Bonamassa, a vocal supporter of the decision, was given a chance to play two of Rory’s other Fenders ahead of the auction. He's set to play a series of tribute shows to his hero in Ireland later this year, something he's called it “the biggest challenge of my musical life”.
Meanwhile, Gallagher has been honored with a statue in Belfast, although eyebrows were raised after a crucial detail appeared to be wrong.
