R.I.P. Gary Moore

Sad news in the guitar-playing world today:

Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore found dead in hotel room

Rock guitarist and former Thin Lizzy star Gary Moore has died in Spain.

The 58-year-old, originally from Belfast, was found dead in a hotel room on the Costa del Sol.

Thin Lizzy founding member Brian Downey paid tribute to his friend.

"I am in total shock," he said. "He will always be in my thoughts and prayers and I just can't believe he is gone."

Moore had a successful solo career but it was for his time in Thin Lizzy that he will be best remembered.

He joined the band in 1973 after the sudden departure of guitarist Eric Bell but only played with them for four months.

Four years later he returned and went on to play on the band's Black Rose album.

Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham said it been a pleasure to share a stage with him.

"Playing with Gary during the Black Rose era was a great experience, he was a great player and a great guy," he said.

"I will miss him."

Niles Stokes, editor of Hot Press music magazine, had known Moore for almost 50 years. He said: "He was a phenomenally good guitarist after starting in the music industry at the age of about 15. Not only did he have success with Thin Lizzie but he had a successful solo career. His contribution to the Irish rock cannon was immense."

Thin Lizzy's frontman Phil Lynnot died in 1986.

The band reformed at various times since then and continue to tour today.

Moore played with some of his former bandmates in 2006.

Repost, from 3.9.07

In music, as in all arts, there are those who innovate (think Picasso), and those who "kick it up a notch".

Gary Moore wasn't the first guy to strap on a Les Paul and plug it into a Marshall, but he injected something special into that equipment combination. From wikipedia:

Gary Moore (born Robert William Gary Moore, 4 April 1952, in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a guitarist. In a career dating back to the 1960s he has played with bands/artists including Thin Lizzy, Colosseum II, Greg Lake and blues-rock band Skid Row as well as having a successful solo career.

Moore started performing at a young age, having picked up a battered acoustic guitar at the age of eight, and got his first quality guitar at the age of fourteen, learning to play the right-handed instrument in the standard way despite being left handed. His career has lasted over thirty years.

Gary Moore now appears as a regular radio host every Sunday and Monday on 'Planet Rock' radio. His show is entitled 'Blues Power' and plays many classic blues tracks, as well as some of Moore's own tracks.

Gary added an element of . . . I guess, precision to the rock lexicon. He rocked as hard as all the acolytes of Clapton, Beck, & Buddy Guy from the '60s, but was somehow smoother and more polished. The level of virtuosity was raised, without sacrificing any of the "soul".

Here's a video of Gary during his Thin Lizzy days:



And here he is with Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott doing the overblown yet delicious "Parisienne Walkways" live:



And finally, here's Gary more recently, in '04, paying homage to Jimi with "Red House", with bassist extraordinaire Pino Pallidino:



And best quote ever from YouTube comments:

Shit, if I could play like that, I'd have my head shaved, my balls out, be drunk all the time and wear rabbit slippers and I'm pretty sure people wouldn't notice!

Indeed.