Gary Moore

In April 2017 Henrik Freischlader released a tribute album titled Blues For Gary featuring Pete Rees and Vic Martin.

Jack Moore performed a tribute on his guitar, that had belonged to his father, alongside Danny Young in the form of a music video around the anniversary of his father's birthday, in April 2017. The song was named "Phoenix", which was written and performed by both Jack Moore and Danny Young.

Gary Moore died of a heart attack in his sleep at the age of 58 during the early hours of 6 February 2011. At the time he was on holiday with his girlfriend Petra Nioduschewski at the Kempinski Hotel in Estepona, Spain. His death was confirmed by Thin Lizzy's manager Adam Parsons. The Daily Telegraph reported that Moore's fatal heart attack was brought on by a high level of alcohol in his body.

Since his death, many fellow musicians have commented on Gary Moore's talents including Ozzy Osbourne, Kirk Hammett, Eric Singer, Doug Aldrich, Tony Iommi, Bob Geldof, Roger Taylor, Brian May, Brian Downey, Andy DiGelsomina, Ricky Warwick, Ignacio Garay, and Mikael Åkerfeldt. On 18 April 2011, a number of musicians including Eric Bell and Brian Downey, Thunder Rising, Silverbird and The Business Blues Band gathered for a tribute concert in Whelan's bar in Dublin, Ireland titled 'The Gig For Gary'.

In March 2011 Guitarist produced a tribute special with unreleased footage from 2009. Twitter was flooded with tributes from fans for several days after his death.

Moore played his last show of the 2009 Bad For You Baby tour, at the Islington Academy, London, in the December of that year. Live From London, a recording of that event, went on to reach the top slot of the Billboard blues album chart upon its release in 2020.

In January 2005, Moore joined the One World Project who recorded a song for the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami relief effort. The project also featured Russell Watson, Boy George, Steve Winwood, Barry Gibb, Brian Wilson, Cliff Richard, Dewey Bunnell, Gerry Beckley and Robin Gibb. The song entitled "Grief Never Grows Old" included a guitar solo by Moore and was released in February 2005, reaching #4 on the U.K Singles Chart.

Moore returned to the blues style with Back to the Blues (2001) and continued in the genre with Power of the Blues (2004), Old New Ballads Blues (2006), Close As You Get (2007), and Bad For You Baby (2008), his final studio album.

Peter Green's continued influence on Moore was repaid as a tribute to Green on his 1995 album Blues for Greeny, an album consisting almost entirely of Green's compositions. On this album, Moore played Green's 1959 Les Paul Standard guitar which Green had lent to Moore after leaving Fleetwood Mac. Moore ultimately purchased the guitar and Green is reputed to have commented that "it would have a good home".

In 1994, he recorded, as part of the short lived power trio BBM (Bruce, Baker & Moore) with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker of Cream fame, releasing the album Around the Next Dream.; this line up, along with Tommy Eyre on keyboards, then undertook a UK and European tour.

The follow up album After Hours, released in 1992, also featured contributions from such artists as B.B King, Albert Collins and The Memphis Horns.

Born and raised in Belfast, Moore played in the line-ups of several local bands during his teenage years, before moving to Dublin, after having been asked to join the Irish band Skid Row before the departure of lead singer Phil Lynott. Moore later played with Lynott in Thin Lizzy and joined the British jazz-rock band Colosseum II. He also had a successful solo career with eleven UK Top 40 single releases, which included the top ten songs "Parisienne Walkways" and "Out in the Fields" (a collaboration with Lynott), and peaked in popularity with his best-selling album Still Got the Blues in 1990.

Following After the War, Moore reverted back to electric blues which had so inspired him during his early days in Belfast and recorded Still Got the Blues (1990), which featured contributions from Albert King, Albert Collins and George Harrison. The album was well received in the US where it was later certified as a gold release by the R.I.A.A.

Moore's 1987 album Wild Frontier saw Moore return to Celtic influenced hard rock similar to his period with Thin lizzy but with emphasis on The Troubles in Northern Ireland. The songs questioned the sense of belonging in the face of hardships and death. The album dedicated a track to Phil Lynott, who had died during the recording sessions. The album and single "Over the Hills and Far Away", found success in Norway, Finland and Western Europe but failed to make an impact in the United States. The next two singles, "Wild Frontier" and "Friday on my Mind", which was a cover of an Easybeats song) followed. After the War, released in 1989, did not have quite the same international success of its predecessor, but gave Moore his highest chart ranking in the lucrative German market.

In 1987, he performed a guitar solo for a cover of the Beatles' "Let It Be", which was released under the group-name of Ferry Aid. The record raised funds for the survivors of the MS Herald of Free Enterprise disaster. In 1990, he played the lead guitar solo on "She's My Baby" from Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3.

Moore moved on in a more commercial direction with the album Run for Cover which was released in 1985. This album was the final co-operation between Moore and Phil Lynott, who died early the following year. The album's first single "Out in the Fields" was a hit in the UK, Scandinavia, Germany and the Netherlands. The ballad "Empty Rooms", which had previously appeared on the Victims of the Future album became a fan favorite.

Moore had two sons from his marriage that lasted from 1985 to 1993, and a daughter with his second wife. He also had an older daughter from an earlier relationship.

Released in May 1983, Dirty Fingers had been recorded in 1981 for the Jet Records label, with an entirely different band and was the last album before Moore began to sing lead vocals.

He also joined Greg Lake on Lake's first solo record Greg Lake released in 1981, recorded after the demise of Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Moore toured with the Greg Lake band, including their performance 5 November 1981 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, broadcast live on the King Biscuit Flower Hour, released in 1995 as King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents Greg Lake in Concert; and recorded a second Greg Lake solo record but did not tour to support it. After the Greg Lake project ended, Moore started work on the first of several hard rock records as a solo artist. He recorded Corridors of Power in 1982, and Victims of the Future followed in January, 1984. These recordings featured Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice and Colosseum II and Whitesnake bass player Neil Murray, among others. Also featured was Neil Carter who would be included in Moore's bands during the years to come. In later years Moore distanced himself from these albums.

Between late 1977 and early 1978 while performing with Colosseum II, Moore recorded the album Back on the Streets which featured the hit single "Parisienne Walkways". The song achieved Top Ten status in the UK Singles Chart in April 1979. While Back on the Streets was climbing the charts, Gary Moore rejoined Thin Lizzy and stayed with them for a year, recording Black Rose: A Rock Legend with them, which reached number two in the UK album chart in 1979. He also appeared in the videos for "Waiting for an Alibi", "With Love" and "Do Anything You Want To". He left the band abruptly in July of that year during a U.S. tour.

In January 1974, he re-joined Lynott in Thin Lizzy after the departure of founding member Eric Bell. Moore stayed until April that year and the band recorded three songs with him, including the single "Still in Love with You", which was included on the band's fourth album, Nightlife (1974).

During 1974/5, Gary Moore performed on a number of recordings as a session guitarist, and can be heard on records by Eddie Howell Jack Lancaster's Peter and the Wolf. On these recording sessions, Gary Moore met Jon Hiseman and they decided to start a band, Colosseum II. They released their first album, Strange New Flesh in March 1976. The band also collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Webber on the composer's Variations (1978). In early 1977 Moore rejoined Thin Lizzy, first as a temporary replacement for the injured Brian Robertson and then on a permanent basis in the summer of 1978.

Moore was associated with many guitar brands over his career, but the guitar he was most associated with was the Gibson Les Paul. The guitar was originally owned by Peter Green. Green sold the guitar to his younger friend Moore in 1974 for the price that Moore got from selling a Gibson SG, his main guitar at that time. Moore used the guitar extensively over the next three decades, playing this instrument on hits such as "Parisienne Walkways". The guitar is now owned by Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett who purchased the guitar a number of years after Moore had sold it for $2 Million U.S. dollars.

After joining Skid Row along with Noel Bridgeman and Brendan "Brush" Shiels, they cut a number of singles and an album which were released in 1970. The band then went on to play shows across Europe and the USA as the opening act for a number of high profile bands. It was with the early line up of this group that he first met Philip Lynott and it was the start of a long association. Also, around this time, his reputation as a guitarist began to grow.

In 1970 Moore moved to England and apart from two short periods in the United States remained there for the rest of his career. He released his first album Grinding Stone by The Gary Moore Band in 1973, which was released on CBS Records, in the UK and Europe. The album was issued in North America on Neil Kempfer-Stocker's fledgling record label imprint Cosmos and achieved "Album of the Year" and accolades on KTAC-FM/Seattle-Tacoma, Washington in 1974. Moore left the band in December 1971.

In 1968, at the young age of 16, and after Moore had performed with a number of Belfast-based bands, he moved to Dublin, with his father's permission, after being asked to join Skid Row (Irish band). Moore's greatest influence in the early days was English guitarist Peter Green from Fleetwood Mac who became a mentor to Moore while performing in Dublin.

Another guitar Moore was associated with was a red 1961 Fender Stratocaster which Moore had purchased in 1981. The guitar was almost sold to Greg Lake who had rejected it because it was not pristine. The Red Strat is also known as the Pink Strat and was extensively used by Moore on Corridors of Power along with many other recording sessions. The Red Strat was used at many live performances, most notably at the Fender 50th Anniversary show held at Wembley Arena, North London in 2004 when Moore performed Jimi Hendrix's song "Red House". The neck pickup was rewound by pickup maker Seymour Duncan in 1998. Fender Guitars launched a custom shop tribute replica of the Red Strat in 2016, which was undertaken by Fender master builder John Cruz.

Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 1952 – 6 February 2011) was a Northern Irish guitarist and singer-songwriter. According to Ultimate Classic Rock, Moore had a "restless career trajectory—taking in blues, rock, heavy metal, jazz-fusion and other styles over four and a half decades". He is often described as a virtuoso guitarist.