Mick Gallagher

English keyboardist
the Irish association footballer sometimes referred to as Mick

Michael William Gallagher (born 29 October 1945) is an English Hammond organ player best known as a member of Ian Dury and the Blockheads and for his contributions to albums by the Clash. He has also written music for films such as Extremes (1971) and After Midnight (1990), and the Broadway play Serious Money (1987).

Mick Gallagher started his musical career in Newcastle with The Unknowns in the early 1960s. He played with the Animals during 1965, replacing their founding member Alan Price. He moved on to form The Chosen Few, where he played alongside Alan Hull, who later formed Lindisfarne. Other associations include Skip Bifferty, Peter Frampton's Camel and Cochise. In 1977 Gallagher was playing in a band called Loving Awareness, including John Turnbull, Charley Charles and Norman Watt Roy. Charles and Watt Roy worked as session musicians with Ian Dury, and when the group went on tour, Gallagher and Turnbull were invited along. This band became the Blockheads.

Gallagher played on two of the most influential Clash albums, London Calling (1979) and Sandinista! (1980), and made live appearances with the band, also playing on their last album Cut the Crap (1985), for which he never received a credit. Gallagher worked with the Clash's drummer Topper Headon again in a short lived band called Samurai, and again when they recorded Headon's Waking Up (1986), appearing with Bobby Tench and Jimmy Helms. Samurai guitarist Henry Padovani briefly described Gallagher in his memoir: "He had a family, was the serious one of the group, never snorted any coke and managed to somehow control Topper [Headon] a little. Playing with this talented musician was a pleasure." Gallagher has also performed and recorded with Paul McCartney, Roger Daltrey, Robbie Williams, Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox. More recently he returned to perform with The Blockheads and John Steel's The Animals and Friends. Gallagher has also written music for films such as Extremes (1971) and After Midnight (1990), and the Broadway play Serious Money (1987).

Gallagher has three children, Luke, Ben and Maria. In 1980, the three children sang on the Clash's fourth studio album, Sandinista!. Luke and Ben sang on "Career Opportunities" while Maria sang on "The Guns of Brixton" which was featured at the end of the song "Broadway".