Rory is a Donegal singer-songwriter and former co-owner of The Island Bar in Lanzarote.
Rory has had 10 top 40 songs in the irish iTunes rock charts, with "Jimmy's Winning Matches" breaking through to the actual overall Irish top 10 in Oct 2012.
Rory was the bass player and lead vocalist with Irish Indie/Pop/Punk group 'The Revs' from 2000 to 2007.
In his time with The Revs they released numerous hit radio singles and 3 Albums; Sonictonic in 2002 (no. 5 Irish Charts), Suck in 2003 (no. 3 Irish Charts) and The Revs in 2005 (no. 26 Irish Charts).
They played the Oxegen (Irelands biggest annual music festival) Main Stage 4 times, Slane Castle, toured the USA, Australia (where they had a top 30 hit with "Death of a DJ") the UK and Europe and supported the Kaiser Chiefs, Foo fighters, Muse and many others.
The band picked up 2 meteors, hotpress and BBC awards, a single of the month with Kerrang!, MTV2 coverage and an average of 300 gigs/public apperances per year... it all flew at a rapid pace.
However in late 2006 it all came to an end as the public interest in the band had died, they found themselves victims of trying to sprint the marathon, releasing music too hastily, rather exhausted and not paying attention to the basics.
In 2008, Rory released his official solo debut album "God Bless the big bang".
It received a positive reaction with Hotpress magazine declaring it "a Triumphant return" giving it 4 out of 5 stars, it also recieved album of the week from Today FM, The Sunday World and BBC Ulster. Rory released 2 singles from the Album and did 2 short tours of Ireland. However Rory had since become resident musician in Charlies Bar Lanzarote and found it pointless to go and play in front of 50 people in small venues around Ireland losing all his money on Petrol and Hotels when there were already 150 Irish people coming into Charlies bar in Lanzarote every night of the week!
In 2010 Rory recorded some new original material with legendary Irish trad player Sharon Shannon (also a reworking of the pogues classic "Fiesta" with Shane McGowan), out of these sessions Rory had recorded a comedy demo song called "Ryanair Blues", it was leaked to Irish Radio and became a surprise online hit.
Rory then started releasing his new material under the name "RORY AND THE ISLAND" as it was a disaster using his birthname Rory Gallagher as many people would show up expecting a tribute to the Cork/ Donegal Blues Legend!
In May 2011, RORY AND THE ISLAND went in at number 8 in the iTunes Irish Alternative Charts and stayed in the charts for 3 weeks with the debut single "Colours".
In late July 2011 RORY AND THE ISLAND went into number 19 in the Irish Rock charts with the single "Champagne Lifestyle on Coca Cola wages"
In Sep 2011 RORY AND THE ISLAND reached number 15 in the Irish iTunes chart with "The Battle to Stay Positive".
In March 2012 RORY & THE ISLAND reached number 7 in the Irish iTunes charts with the double A-side single "Jimmy Selling Watches / Overground Artist".
In April 2012 RORY & THE ISLAND shot straight in at number 5 in the Irish iTunes Rock Charts with the "Boys in Green" anthem for the Irish soccer team for the Euro 2012 competition.
The track was a spur of the moment bit of fun performed with Sharon Shannon a few months earlier and was released for the "Myasthenia Gravis Charity" backed by Irish Football Legend Ronnie Whelan.
In June 2012 after staying in the iTunes charts for 2 months "Boys in Green 2012" was independently voted the best Eire song for Euro 2012 on www.RTE.ie
Rory and the Island then toured the UK and the USA in the winter of 2012 to promote the new album "Auntie Depressant and Uncle Hope".
Rory and the Island scored a top ten hit in Ireland in Sept 2012 with "Jimmy's Winning Matches" another spur of the moment song sang and recorded on playa chica beach in Lanzarote with Jimmy from Senegal.
In many different formats it has almost 2 million views on You Tube and Vevo. (Jan 2013) At one point in Sept on iTunes the "studio" version was at No.1 and the beach "demo" was at No. 2 in the charts, a first for iTunes in Ireland.
Rory and his wife Cara opened 'The Island' live music bar in Puerto Del Carmen, Lanzarote on March 9th, 2013. And it wasn't just Rory's music that had done well in the charts. In June 2013 "The Island - Live music bar" was named number 1 bar in Lanzarote by tripadvisor.co.uk
In August 2013 Rory and the island released "Dingo Rush" a 7 track EP on iTunes
The Island Bar recieved 5 star travellers guide award from TRIP ADVISOR in Jan 2014
"Week of Alcohol" reached number 1 in Eire and UK iTunes indie charts in May 2014, Coinciding with a sell out show in the Workmans Club in Dublin. Over 330 tickets sold out in 4 days on ticket master website, raising a few eyebrows considering not 1 poster was put up for the gig! .
"Sometimes you shouldnt follow your heart" reached No. 14 in the iTunes rock charts in late May 2014.
"Belfast" went to number 1 in iTunes easy listen charts in June 2014.
Rory wrote the music for Irish Boxer Jason Quigley's debut pro fight in Las Vegas, "Make Way for the Fighting Irish" in July 2014, it went to number 1 in iTunes Irish world music chart. Quigley now uses this as his Arena entrance theme song.
In Oct 2014 Rory played a sold ut show to 550 people in the Opium rooms (The Village) in Dublin City, After this show Rory is booked to play "The Academy" venue in Dublin which holds 1000 people, this gig is set for April 4th 2015 to coincide with a brand new single.
The single "Peace and Love and Ringo Starr" reached number 4 in irish iTunes in May 2015.
Rory and his wife Cara opened a second bar in Puerto Del Carmen, Lanzarote, called "Gallagher's Beachview Sportsbar" in August 2015.
The latest Album of Rory and the island: "Watching the Sun Going Down" was released on June 10th , 2016.
The Island Bar in Lanzarote closed it's doors on the 30th September 2018 as Rory and Cara headed back to Ireland.
Rory then took to the road, gigging around the U.K, Ireland and Germany with the excellent Sean Magee and other talented guest musicians.
In Dec 2019 Rory and the island teamed up with fellow Donegal singer Mickey Harte and released the single "Only You
which went into the official Irish top 20 week peaking at No. 12.
March 2020 saw Rory, and his wife Cara, open a brand new music bar "The Wildcat" in Tollcross, Edinburgh, Scotland.
The Wildcat bar never reached its official opening night of march 21st 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic outbreak.
Rory played Facebook live gigs every Saturday during the pandemic to a huge response.
In Nov 2020 Rory and The Island went to No.1 on the overall iTunes charts in Ireland with "When the lights go down" which also went to No. 8 on the UK itunes songwriter charts.
Rory's latest single "Miss This" was released on March 19th and charted at no. 1 in the overall iTunes charts in Ireland, it also charted at no.3 in the UK singer songwriters charts.
Following a sell out tour, Rory released his latest album "Centre Falls Apart" on March 11th 2022 to critical acclaim. It was featured as Album of the Week on RTE radio 1 and entered at No. 8 in the Irish Indie charts. Rory is now touring the album in Ireland and the U.K.
After performing at numerous sold out events and festivals over the summer of 2022 Rory then released the follow up EP "Centre Comes Together" which also charted at no.8 on iTunes ireland album charts in October of 2022.
To everyones surprise Rory then announced he would be opening a new bar "Rory's Corner Bar" in Lanzarote again, it was given a few weeks soft opening in the winter of 2022 and is officially opened from Jan 13th 2023 ... see here
In June 2023, Rory and his wife Cara opened up Bar 13 in Edinburgh City, Scotland to a huge response.