diff --git a/remail/mail.py b/remail/mail.py
index aae8813..7d2dc3f 100644
--- a/remail/mail.py
+++ b/remail/mail.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 #
 # Mail message related code
 
-from email.utils import make_msgid, formatdate
+from email.utils import make_msgid, formatdate, parseaddr
 from email.header import Header, decode_header
 from email import message_from_string, message_from_bytes
 from email.generator import Generator
@@ -150,10 +150,7 @@ def get_raw_email_addr(addr):
     '''
     Return the raw mail address, name and brackets stripped off.
     '''
-    try:
-        return addr.split('<')[1].split('>')[0].strip()
-    except:
-        return addr
+    return parseaddr(addr)[1]
 
 re_compress_space = re.compile('\s+')