Who was Rory Gallagher’s wife? The singer’s dormant love life discussed

Rory Gallagher sold more than 30 million records, yet he is only considered a moderate success in the music industry. His talent and dedication to craft should have yielded greater success, observers opine. Rory truly came alive on stage: he rewarded concert-goers with energetic performances, dazzling them with an unrivaled understanding of the electric guitar. 

Rory Gallagher never married; he was married to his guitar

Rory Gallagher was so committed to music that he had no time for relationships. He never married or had children. 

Biographer Julian Vignoles explored Rory’s inactive love life in The Man Behind The Guitar. The book quotes Norman Damery, Rory’s bandmate in Taste, who dismissed rumors that Rory was gay. He told Vignoles:

“Rory wasn’t interested in men, women, or drugs. He definitely wasn’t a homosexual. The cliche was probably true, Rory was married to his guitar.”

“Probably because there was never a woman closely associated with him publicly, the suggestion persisted that he might have been gay, and either did not realize it, or want to disclose it — but there is no evidence to support this.”

Gerry McAvoy, Rory’s bass player, said Rory wouldn’t let anything interfere with his craft: “In my opinion, the real reason for Rory’s reluctance to let anyone into his life is that he was simply so focused on his music that he wouldn’t allow women, or anything else for that matter to interfere with that.”

Vignoles concluded that Rory intentionally kept his distance from people. “I came away from writing this book feeling that Rory, while able to have professional relationships with people, was unable to have close relationships with men or women. Maybe he wanted to keep a distance,” Vignoles told The Irish Sun.

In a 2012 interview, Rory’s brother and manager, Donal, stated that Rory might have been autistic. Vignoles agreed with Donal, saying that Rory’s single-mindedness gave credibility to the theory. “And the evidence suggests that he didn’t form very close or intimate relationships with others. It does fit with that fixation on music,” Vignoles said.