Guitarist Gary Moore was born in Belfast on April 4, 1952, and grew up near Stormont. He formed his first band, The Beat Boys, when he was just 13 and was even then regarded as a teenage guitar prodigy. He joined Dublin group Skid Row as a 16-year-old in 1969 with Brush Shiels, Phil Lynott and Nollaig Bridgeman. Equally at home with blues, hard rock and jazz, he was also a superb, lyrical, melodic guitar player.
Gary Moore
When Philip Lynott left, Gary shared vocals with Brush Sheils, turning Skid Row into a power-trio of the kind that was in vogue at the time, echoing the success of Rory Gallagher. Skid Row released two albums on CBS, Skid in 1970 and 34 Hours in 1971.
He was a member of Thin Lizzy from 1973 – 74 after Eric Bell left, making up the combo of Phil Lynnot, Scott Gorham, Brian Downey and Brian Robertson. He played the extraordinary solo on ‘Still In Love With You’ on the Nightlife album (1974), which became one of Thin Lizzy’s most enduring tracks. Gary returned to the Lizzy line-up briefly again, when Brian Robertson was ruled out of a US tour in 1977. He also featured on the Lizzy album Black Rose, released in 1979.
After leaving Thin Lizzy, Gary Moore and Phil Lynott teamed up in 1979 to record Parisenne Walkways, perhaps his most famous song. The pair were also responsible for his biggest hit as a solo artist, Out in the Fields , which he released in 1985.
“He was a genius player,” said Hot Press editor Niall Stokes. “Even as a teenager, he had something special about him and throughout his career he worked really hard at improving his technique. His contribution to the Irish rock canon was immense, both in his own solo work, his days with Skid Row, the great records he recorded with Philip Lynott and with Thin Lizzy and in various other cameos.”
Gary Moore was a friend of Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green. A 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard which Moore bought from him is one of the most valuable guitars in the world and was listed recently at auction for $2 million.
While he featured along the way alongside Jon Hiseman in Colosseum II, for most of his career Gary Moore led his own band, shifting between hard rock, metal, jazz-influenced fusion music and the blues. The first Gary Moore Band LP, Grinding Stone, was released in 1973. In recent years he had returned to his roots, first with the release of Still Got The Blues in 1991 and later with Back To The Blues, in 2001. In all, he released 20 studio albums, as well as six live collections, including the Live At Montreaux DVD.
He had been living in Brighton for the last 15 years. Gary Moore died while on holiday in Estepona, Spain, on February 6, 2011. He was 58. He was survived by his mother Winnie, and children Saoirse, Lily, Jack and Gus.