Tuesday , March 19 2024
A guitarist's guitarist passes away at the age of 58.

In Passing: Gary Moore (1952-2011)

The man could play the guitar!

Gary Moore, born April 6, 1952, passed away February 6, 2011 at the age of 58, while on vacation in Spain. The cause of death was an apparent heart attack.

Moore was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and began playing the guitar at the age of eight. At 16 he joined the Irish blues/rock band Skid Row, where he met Phil Lynott. Their musical relationship would last until Lynott’s death in 1986 at the age of 36. It would include two stints in the band Thin Lizzy.

It was as a solo artist that he would gain his greatest fame. His first solo studio album was released during 1973 and 19 more would follow before his death.

He was a noted rock guitarist but it would be his forays into a rock/blues fusion style that would become his lasting legacy and push him into the front rank of the world’s guitarists.

His breakthrough release was 1990’s Still Got The Blues, which included such luminaries as Albert King and Albert Collins. Many more blues albums would follow. He was always less popular in the United States than he was in the United Kingdom and Europe, where he sold millions of albums and played to sold out arenas.

A couple of years ago I reviewed his Live At Montreux DVD which presents him at his live best. Tonight it will grace my stereo system.

Rest In Peace Gary Moore.

About David Bowling

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