Classic Rock Rory Feature

[Sinner Girl]

10 years? This has been stop you? Why?
The real man must be older!

My boyfriend is 10 years older than me , relationship works very well for me,

great story Flamenca

[Olav]

Sorry, Flamenca, but how your 'friend' coincidentally showed up, as you wrote, near Rory? It sounds strange a bit to me.

[Flamenca]

Sorry, Flamenca, but how your 'friend' coincidentally showed up, as you wrote, near Rory? It sounds strange a bit to me.

Hi Olav

We were drinking in a bar ... hope that explains it!
Best wishes
Flamenca

[blues blooded]

Interesting article! I just didn't like the part suggesting that Rory was an alcoholic.

Well it can't be denied that he didn't have a problem and it hardly dominated the article anyway. I thought it was very well written . It wasn't obsequious and nor did it only concentrate on his problems.

[maapji]

The part on Rory's addictions just happened to catch my attention because in another article Donal says:

before his addiction to prescription tablets worsened, Rory drank no more than any of his band members, possibly slightly less

Article

But no matter how you look at it, yes there were problems.

[handyt]

i've just read the whole article and enjoyed the new bits and accept them.Now as far as alcoholism goes any regular drinker can be branded with that label.
i can drink 3or4 pints a day and a few more more at the weekend and be classified as an alcoholic, so what.
i hold down a fairly high profile job, keep fit and enjoy life. i'm 58 my girlfriend is 42 i feel good.in fact i" feel so good" i'm reasonably pleased to be an alcoholic.
We can't turn the clock back , look forward, we all have some regrets ; is your glass half full or half empty??
Cheers Tom

[Flamenca]

As I understand it (please correct me if I’m wrong and excuse the tome/tone below, hopefully no-one finds it patronising!) I think 1980 was a difficult year for Rory and probably when he started to take the prescription tranquillisers more often, and started to drink more.

Difficult for both personal and career reasons:

1. The hairies from the 1970’s were increasingly becoming regarded as ‘old hat’. “Every generation throws its own heroes up the pop charts” to quote Paul Simon. Rory along with all of the other hairies simply became less popular.

2. The world was in recession hence less record and ticket sales for everyone. Rory’s teenage audience from the 1970s had grown up, were getting married and having children, hence less record and ticket sales for Rory. He had the pressure of finding new audiences, hence the college tours.

3. Donal met a girl, fell in love, got married and moved out of their shared flat. Thus, Rory:

a. Lost his best friend (Donal) to another;
b. Was no longer top priority in Donal’s life;
c. Didn’t have Donal around 24-7-365 for emotional support or company;
d. Probably felt lonely and somewhat bereft but didn’t want to admit it.

Donal had stepped out from Rory’s shadow and become his own man despite being on Rory’s payroll. This must have started a radical shift in the dynamics of their relationship. Donal had his own family to be responsible for, and children soon followed to add to his priorities. Basically, Rory went down the hierarchy in Donal’s life. That must have been tough for Rory as they had previously been so close.

4. Rory’s teenage dream of breaking the US still hadn’t been achieved despite endless touring and years of hard work. He must have been starting to be concerned that it was becoming tougher every year he got older, and might never happen.

5. Ted was becoming restless and wanted to leave the band. He announced his intentions at the end of 1980. Rory must have felt anxious about another change in the line-up.

6. By 1983 Rory’s contract with Chrysalis had come to an end. From my experience, musicians always take it badly when their contracts end unless they have a fabulous one with someone else to replace it. Rory chose to sign with a much smaller label that gave him much more control. Unfortunately they went bust within about a year. It took a few more years for him to set up his own label so essentially he didn’t have a recording contract and had no new releases to promote, so probably couldn’t get tour promoters or booking agents excited as easily as previously. This must have been tough emotionally and financially as the band and crew were still on the full time pay roll.

7. By 1986 Catherine Mattelaer had given up on him and married Johan Verminnen without saying a word to Rory. During the recording of ‘Defender’ she gave birth to a baby daughter Pauline and showed Rory the pictures of her beautiful baby. Rory was absolutely gutted and was quoted as saying it took him two years to get over her.

8. At around the same time, Donal and his wife also had a beautiful baby daughter and named her Catherine. This must have been a constant reminder to Rory of the Catherine he had lost and the children he did not have. Rory turned 40 years old and still no realisation of his teenage dream – breaking the US, and no soul mate or children of his own. At this time he told me that he did want to have children – at least one, possibly two, but no more. Sadly it was not to be.

9. I think we all know the rest of the story. So terribly sad, and such a waste of a prodigious talent.

10. Hopefully we can all do our bit to keep his memory alive. Good luck Bibi with the airport naming. That too will be a remarkable achievement.

[Olav]

Rory was talking about female musician who broke his heart. Was Catherine a musician?

[Olav]

From the articles and books about Rory I've learned that he was heartbroken because of some girl in his early age that's why he avoided serious relationships with women. That's why he rejected Catherine later, though she loved him. I think that Jerry McAvoy was right about it in his book. He was too long with Rory and saw him every day.

[deuce]

nicely summed up Flamenca, thanks.

I am not convinced on point 7 though. From what I´ve read so far, Catherine Mattelaer pursued Rory for many years, even throughout her relationship with Roland van Campenhout – but without success. Both Gerry McAvoy and Dan Muise did mention or quote in their books that he rejected her. So why should she be one of the reasons why he was in a bad state ?