Gary Moore

Gary Moore ranks among rock’s underappreciated guitarists, his path weaving through blues, heavy metal, progressive rock, and jazz fusion while he enjoyed solo success and worked with multiple bands, most memorably Thin Lizzy. Born in Belfast, he emerged from the same Northern Irish circuit as Phil Lynott and filled the guitarist role in Thin Lizzy on several occasions throughout the group’s first incarnation during the 1970s and early 1980s. On his own, the blues-tinged “Parisienne Walkways” became an unexpected success in 1978, after which he shifted toward heavy metal and hard rock for most of the following decade. Although American audiences remained largely unresponsive, he built a loyal following, especially across Europe. Weary of hard rock’s commercial pressures, he returned to blues with the 1990 album Still Got the Blues, shaped by early influences such as Peter Green—who had sold Moore his main guitar—and Eric Clapton; the record became his strongest-selling solo effort, and even when he explored other styles he stayed rooted in blues for the rest of his life. His twenty-first-century output proved remarkably steady, highlighted by blues-focused sets including 2001’s Back to the Blues, 2007’s Close as You Get, and 2008’s Bad for You Baby, the final studio album before his sudden death in early 2011.

Born April 4, 1952, in Belfast, Moore first picked up the guitar in the 1960s after hearing blues-rock figures Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and, most decisively, Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green. Moving to Dublin later that decade, he joined the local band Skid Row, whose young singer Phil Lynott soon departed to play bass and launch Thin Lizzy. Skid Row continued and eventually supported Green’s Fleetwood Mac, impressing the veterans enough that Green asked their manager to arrange a CBS contract; he also sold Moore the maple 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard that became the guitarist’s primary instrument.

Skid Row released several singles and albums, among them 1970’s Skid and 1971’s 34 Hours, and toured parts of Europe and the United States, yet commercial breakthrough never arrived, prompting Moore’s departure in 1972. He formed the Gary Moore Band with drummer Pearse Kelly and bassist John Curtis, handling vocals himself; after their 1973 debut Grinding Stone vanished without notice, he rejoined Lynott in Thin Lizzy. That first stay proved brief, limited to a few tracks, before Moore turned to session work, appearing on Eddie Howell’s 1975 Gramaphone Record, then joined the prog-rock and fusion group Colosseum II. His time there also ended quickly; he played on only three releases—1976’s Strange New Flesh and the pair of 1977 albums Electric Savage and War Dance—before Lynott again invited him to fill in for a U.S. arena tour supporting Queen.

Moore stayed active in 1978, contributing to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Variations, Rod Argent’s Moving Home, and Gary Boyle’s Electric Glide. That same year he delivered his second solo album, Back on the Streets—nearly five years after Grinding Stone—which yielded the bluesy ballad “Parisienne Walkways,” a surprise Top Ten U.K. hit in May 1979 that featured Lynott on vocals. He reunited with his Thin Lizzy bandmates in 1979 for Black Rose, widely regarded as their finest studio album and a major British success, notable for Moore’s standout guitar work on the epic title track. Predictably, another rift with Lynott led him to quit mid-U.S. tour. Undeterred, he added guitar to Cozy Powell’s Over the Top and launched the short-lived G Force, which produced one self-titled album in 1980.

Early in the 1980s Moore collaborated with former ELP member Greg Lake on the solo albums Greg Lake (1981) and Manoeuvres (1983) and guested on Powell’s Octopuss. He also focused seriously on his solo career, releasing the metal-oriented Corridors of Power (1982), Victims of the Future (1983), Dirty Fingers (1984), the live We Want Moore! (1984), Run for Cover (1985), Wild Frontier (1987), and After the War (1989), building a substantial European audience while remaining virtually unknown in the United States. He repaired his friendship with Lynott, appearing on several tracks of Life/Live and joining him for the 1985 songs “Military Man” and “Out in the Fields,” the latter a U.K. hit; Lynott’s death from years of hard living came in January 1986. Moore later dedicated “Wild Frontier” to his friend and saluted him again with “Blood of Emeralds” on After the War.

Dissatisfied with the demand for hit singles and his metallic direction, Moore reclaimed his blues roots on 1990’s Still Got the Blues, the most acclaimed and best-selling album of his career, featuring guests Albert Collins, Albert King, and George Harrison. He continued in that vein with 1992’s After Hours and 1993’s Blues Alive, then formed the brief supergroup BBM with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, resulting in the single 1994 album Around the Next Dream. Next came the Peter Green tribute Blues for Greeny (1995), on which Moore reinterpreted eleven songs associated with his hero. He experimented on Dark Days in Paradise (1997) and A Different Beat (1999) before returning to blues with 2001’s Back to the Blues.

Numerous compilations appeared over the years, among the strongest being the metal-focused Collection (1998), the blues-oriented Best of the Blues (2002), and the balanced Out in the Fields: The Very Best of Gary Moore. In spring 2002, joined by Skunk Anansie bassist Cass Lewis and Primal Fear drummer Darrin Mooney, Moore pursued harder, alternative-leaning rock on Scars. The 2003 concert set Live at Monsters of Rock was recorded with no overdubs, while 2004’s Power of the Blues stayed firmly in blues territory, as did 2006’s Old New Ballads Blues on Eagle Records, 2007’s Close as You Get (which included drumming from Thin Lizzy’s Brian Downey), and 2008’s Bad for You Baby. That proved his last studio album; he died suddenly of a suspected heart attack in the early hours of February 6, 2011, while on holiday in Spain.