William Rory Gallagher (/ˈrɔːri ˈɡæləhər/ GAL-ə-hər; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995) was an Irish blues and rock multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer. Born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, and brought up in Cork, Gallagher recorded solo albums throughout the 1970s and 1980s, after forming the band Taste during the late 1960s. His albums have sold over 30 million copies worldwide. 　　Gallagher received a liver transplant in 1995, but died of complications later that year in London at the age of 47. 　　Gallagher was born in Ballyshannon , County Donegal in 1948. His father Daniel was employed by the Irish Electricity Supply Board , who were constructing a hydro-electric power plant on the Erne River above the town. The family moved, first to Derry City , where his younger brother Dónal was born in 1949. His mother, Monica, and the two boys then moved to Cork , where the brothers were raised. Rory attended North Monastery School . Daniel Gallagher had played the accordion and sang with the Tír Chonaill Céilí Band whilst in Donegal; their mother Monica was a singer and acted with the Abbey Players in Ballyshannon. The Theatre in Ballyshannon where Monica once acted is now called the Rory Gallagher Theatre. 　　Both sons were musically inclined and encouraged by their parents. At age nine, Gallagher received his first guitar from them. He built on his burgeoning ability on ukulele in teaching himself to play the guitar and perform at minor functions. After winning a talent contest when he was twelve, Gallagher began performing in his adolescence with both his acoustic guitar, and an electric guitar he bought with his prize money. However, it was his purchase three years later of a 1961 Fender Stratocaster for £ 100 that became his primary instrument and most associated with him for the span of his lifetime. 　　Gallagher was initially attracted to skiffle after hearing Lonnie Donegan on the radio. Donegan frequently covered blues and folk performers from the United States. He relied entirely on radio programs and television. Occasionally, the BBC would play some blues numbers, and he slowly found some song books for guitar, where he found the names of the actual composers of blues pieces. While still in school, playing songs by Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran , he discovered his greatest influence in Muddy Waters . He began experimenting with folk, blues, and rock music. Unable to find or afford record albums, Gallagher stayed up late to hear Radio Luxembourg and AFN where the radio brought him his only exposure to the actual songwriters and musicians whose music moved him most. 　　Influences he discovered, and cited as he progressed, included Woody Guthrie , Big Bill Broonzy , and Lead Belly . Initially, Gallagher struck out after just an acoustic sound. Singing and later using a brace for his harmonica, Gallagher taught himself to play slide guitar . Further, throughout the next few years of his musical development, Gallagher began learning to play alto saxophone , bass, mandolin , banjo , and the coral sitar with varying degrees of proficiency. By his mid-teens, he began experimenting heavily with different blues styles. 　　Gallagher began playing after school with Irish showbands , while still a young teenager. In 1963, he joined one named Fontana, a sextet playing the popular hit songs of the day. The band toured Ireland and the United Kingdom, earning the money for the payments that were due on his Stratocaster guitar. Gallagher began to influence the band's repertoire, beginning its transition from mainstream pop music, skirting along some of Chuck Berry 's songs and by 1965, he had successfully moulded Fontana into "The Impact", with a change in their line-up into an R&B group that played gigs in Ireland and Spain until disbanding in London. Gallagher left with the bassist Oliver Tobin and drummer to perform as a trio in Hamburg , Germany. In 1966, Gallagher returned to Ireland and, experimenting with other musicians back home in Cork, decided to form his own band.