In 1952, on April 4th Gary Moore was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Late 1960s After moving to Dublin, Gary Moore joins local band Skid Row. Early line-ups of the band include the following musicians: Brendan "Brush" Shiels on bass, Noel "Nollaig" Bridgemore on drums, Bernhard Cheevers on guitar, and Phil Lynott on vocals (he hadn't learned to play bass yet!). Later Bernhard Cheevers and Phil Lynott leave Skid Row, the latter to form Thin Lizzy. Gary Moore does some work with Granny's Intentions. Skid Row release their first single, New Places Old Faces on the Song label. Skid Row (now a trio) opens for Fleetwood Mac in Dublin. Peter Green (then guitarist of 'Mac) is quite impressed with Gary Moore's playing; so much so that he invites him to join a jam session after the show in his hotel room. The legend has it that Peter Green asked 'Mac's manager to help Skid Row get a record deal with CBS. Indeed, soon after moving to London, Skid Row record their first album, Skid (released in 1970).
1970 Skid Row's first single on CBS, Sandie's Gone, is released in March. Their first album, Skid, is also released that year. Then the second CBS single, Saturday Morning Man is released and followed by a tour through the US and Europe. Irish band Dr. Strangely Strange (Ivan Pawle, Tim Goulding, Tim Booth) release their Heavy Petting album; Gary Moore has participated to the album. Towards the end of the year (or maybe early in 1971) Skid Row record their second album in 34 hours; hence the album title 34 Hours...
1971 Skid Row's second album, 34 Hours, is released and in July the band embark on a US tour, followed by a European tour. That year a popularity poll in Irish magazine New Spotlight rates Skid Row as the no.1 non-resident Irish band.
1972 Skid Row record their third album, but while planning for their third US tour, Gary Moore leaves the band and decides to try his hand at a solo career. That album will not be released until Castle Communications gets a hold of it in 1990! Peter (or is it Paul?) Chapman replaces Gary Moore in Skid Row and the tracks for the third album are re-recorded; but that version will not be released either. Later Ed Dean, Eric Bell (!), and Jimmy Slevin successively assume the guitars in Skid Row. Shields and Bridgemore eventually return to Ireland and tour there under the names Skid Row and/or Brush.
1973 Gary Moore resurfaces with his first solo album, Grinding Stone. The Gary Moore Band is GM (guitars and vocals), Pearse Kelly (drums) and John Curtis (bass). The album receives little praise at the time, but it's interesting to listen to the last track, Boogie my Way Back Home, now that we know of Gary Moore's blues trip in the 1990s.
1974 In January Gary Moore joins Thin Lizzy upon Phil Lynott's invitation, but he leaves during the following spring. That first (but not last) short stay with Thin Lizzy produces Still in Love with You, the only track with Gary Moore which makes it on the band's album of the year, Nightlife (released in October).
1975 Gary Moore participates to the recording of Eddie Howell's Gramophone Record. And thus begins Gary's session work, intruding his solo career on a regular basis until today even. Later that year he is offered a job (by Jon Hiseman) in fusion outfit Colosseum II (which he accepts). Colosseum II is: Gary Moore (guitars/vocals), Don Airey (keyboards), Jon Hiseman (drums), John Mole (bass).
1976 Colosseum II's first LP, Strange New Flesh, is released. After a European tour the boys meet at Morgan Studio 1 shortly before Christmas to record their second album (in seven days!). That year, the Thin Lizzy compilation LP Remembering Part 1 uncovers two songs from Gary's short stay with the band in 1974: Sitamoia and Little Darling.
1977 Colosseum II's second album, Electric Savage is completed within the first few months of the year and is released, followed later in the year by War Dance. On the Thin Lizzy front, a compilation LP resembling Remembering Part 1 is released in the US; It's called Rocker 1971-1974 but contains the same two tracks with Gary Moore.
1978 This is the year Gary Moore's career really takes off! Three appearances on other people's LPs and one solo LP in one year! I'm not quite sure in what order they were released, but here are his contributions for the year: Andrew Lloyd Webber's Variations (Yes, Mr. Waters, that very same Andrew Lloyd Webber!), Rod Argent's Moving Home, and Gary Boyle's Electric Glide. But the big one is the solo album, Back on the Streets; an album which is still re-released periodically on different labels. This album is noticed (unlike his 1973 effort) for at least two reasons: (1) Phil Lynott is on it and (2) the soon-to-be single Parisienne Walkways is also on it!
1979 Back on the Streets produces the sublime single Parisienne Walkways, Gary Moore's first chart success (reaching no.8 in May). And the cycle starts again... Gary Moore then joins Thin Lizzy (again!) and records Black Rose with them. The release of the LP is followed by a European tour, then a US tour. For whatever reason Gary Moore leaves Thin Lizzy right in the middle of their American tour! He then goes to Los Angeles to form a new band called G Force. Sometime during 1979 he also manages to find the time to record a little guitar for Cozy Powell's Over the Top.
1980 The newly formed trio G Force release their first (and only) album, G Force, followed by two singles, White Knuckles / Rockin' and Rollin' and Hot Gossip.
1981 By the summer of 1981 G Force is no longer and Gary Moore is back doing session work for Greg Lake's solo LP, Greg Lake, released later that year. According to the legend, Greg Lake had called on Gary Moore to do a guitar solo which no one else could do; Scheduled to start recording at noon, Gary showed up 15 minutes early and finished by the time he was supposed to start! Greg asked him to stay for a while and Gary ended up playing on half the record. (Again, that's only according to the legend!) Gary Moore will even follow Greg Lake on tour in England and in the US. Also released that year was Nuclear Attack, Gary Moore first 12" single (actually released under the name Gary Moore & Friends).
1982 In February Gary Moore starts working on Greg Lake's Manoeuvres LP, then he begins working on his own LP to be released later that year. During the Summer, Gary Moore plays at the Marquee in London (August 26th), where the live album Live at the Marquee was recorded; then at Reading (August 28th), experiencing some sound problems. Later in the year he plays at Surrey University. In September/October Gary Moore is back in the studio recording Cozy Powell's Octopuss LP and his own Corridors of Power. Only then does he go back to finish up Greg Lake's Manoeuvres LP. By year's end Corridors of Power is within the 50 best-selling rock LPs of the year and it reaches the Top 10 on the UK hard-rock charts. The singles from the album are quite successful in the charts as well.
1983 In January Gary Moore is the midst of the Corridors of Power tour. At the end of the month he is in Japan where a couple of shows are recorded. After mixing in March a live album is released in Japan only (Rockin' Every Night). The rest of the world will have to wait until 1986! In October Gary is back in the studio recording his next LP, Victims of the Future, to be released in January of the following year. The other releases of the year on which Gary Moore plays are Cozy Powell's Octopuss, Greg Lake's Manoeuvres (recorded the preceding year), and Thin Lizzy's Life - Live.
1984 After the release of Victims of the Future Gary Moore embarks on a world tour starting in early February in England, going through the rest of Europe and Japan and ending up in the States in late July. The rest of the summer is spent going through everything recorded during the tour, mixing, and putting together a live album, We Want Moore !. Gary Moore also plays at the Monsters of Rock throughout Europe alongside Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne, and AC/DC. By September/October the live album is ready for release and accompanied by a short promotional tour in the UK. 1984 seems to be one of the most eventful years in Gary Moore's career. First, there is the release of Empty Rooms, the first version (but far from the last...) of a very successful single; then this mammoth world tour; but the biggest event occurs in December when Gary Moore returns to his native Ireland, performing there for the first time in 10 years. To celebrate the occasion, the video Emerald Aisles is shot and guess who joins on stage in Dublin... Phil Lynott. Gary and Phil have just burried the hatchet, as 1985 will demonstrate.
1985 Phil Lynott and Gary Moore are reunited once again! But this time, it's just the two of them since Thin Lizzy had already been disbanded at the time. This last collaboration will produce Out in the Fields, an EP also containing the songs "Military Man" and "Still in Love with You" (an excellent remake of Thin Lizzy's 1974 version, on which Gary played as well). The new single climbs the charts and the legendary pair ends up on the cover of Kerrang! This will unfortunately prove to be their last effort together. "Out in the Fields" and "Military Man" are featured on Gary's release for the year, Run for Cover.
1986 Phil Lynott dies early in January, leaving fans stunned. The only Gary Moore release worth noting that year is in fact a re-release; Rockin' Every Night is finally released outside Japan. Gary seems to be taking a break that year, but the following year's album will be worth the wait.
1987 The new album, Wild Frontier, finds Gary Moore returning to his Irish roots. Still considered by many his best non-blues album, Wild Frontier sells well and the critics seem to like it. The album features a cover of "Friday on my Mind"; the instrumental "The Loner", already featured an a Cozy Powell solo album, gets a facelift and sounds better than ever; the album closes with "Johnny Boy"... Later in the year (April), the Stockholm show is filmed, then released on video. 1988 Has anyone seen Gary Moore in 1988? Where was he? What was he doing?
1989 After the War is the year's release. Ozzy guest stars on "Led Clones", "Livin' on Dreams" tells of Gary's early days as a musician, the excellent "Blood of Emeralds" finds Gary still thinking of Phil Lynott. One of the singles for the album will feature a remake of Thin Lizzy's "Emerald" yet again reminding us of Phil. Also featured on the album: a cover of Roy Buchanan's "The Messiah Will Come Again" instrumental. Sounds like a great album, doesn't it? Well, Gary's growing tired of the hard rock scene and while on tour in Switzerland he tells his manager that he'd like to try something else, like say blues or something!!!
1990 The year is marked by a definite turn in Gary Moore's career with the release of his first blues album, Still Got the Blues. The album features covers of standard blues songs as well as Gary Moore originals; guest stars include Albert Collins and George Harrison (on one of his own compositions). The success of the new album was unexpected; it turned out to be the best selling Gary Moore album ever! The single Still Got the Blues even breaks through in the US. That same year George Harrison enrolls Gary Moore for a Traveling Wilburys song, She's my Baby. Was that not the first time you could hear Gary Moore on two different songs on US radios?... Gary Moore gets a chance to play on stage with the "two Alberts" (King and Collins) during his tour; the experience, captured on film (An Evening of the Blues with Gary Moore and the Midnight Blues Band), seems to have been very educative for Gary Moore.
1992 After the unexpected international success of Still Got the Blues in 1990, Gary Moore tries his hand at the blues again with After Hours. This is no longer a little fun aside, but a real career move. On the new album Albert Collins plays again and another King (B.B.!) joins. US fans are treated to a few dates... two dates, that is: one in New York, one in Los Angeles. In return Gary Moore is treated to a standing ovation (at least in LA; that's where I was, with inadequate recording equipment...). Noteworthy session work of the year: the last track on Jimmy Nail's Growing Up in Public.
1993 The live blues album (Live Blues) is released. Any recorded live performance of Gary's is worth having, but this one is special: it features a version a Parisienne Walkways! (Rebaptised Parisienne Walkways '93 for the occasion) The track was recorded in London; for some reason, fans in Paris in Los Angeles didn't get that treat. (I should know...) More session work in 1993 with one track off of Paul Rodgers' tribute to Muddy Waters.
1994 Remember BBA? Well, in 1994 it's BBM! Baker, Bruce, Moore!!! Wow! The album, Around the Next Dream, gets a mitigated reception from the critics; they are divided between the Wow-ers and the More-Cream-ers. But forget Cream for an instant and you've got a great album! Gary definitely leaves his mark. Though the album is more rock-oriented than the two previous Gary Moore releases, the blues is not forgotten. BBM was unfortunately short-lived and so only a few European fans got to see them on stage. Later in the year Ballads & Blues 1982-1994 is released; it a collection of ballads and blues songs (of course!) featuring three previously-unreleased tracks. That's the way record companies get the fans to buy these things, and it works! Seriously, the three new tracks are worth tracking the album out. Session work of the year: one track from Snowy White's Highway to the Sun.
1995 As if 1993 and 1994 hadn't brought enough treats to the fans, Gary Moore releases Blues for Greeny in 1995. All tracks are old Peter Green compositions, all played on the famous Les Paul once owned by him. The album shows that Gary Moore has learned a lot about how to control his guitar-playing; just when you thought he had blown you away for the last time, he still manages to surprise everyone!... During the short tour following the release of the album Peter Green joins Gary Moore on stage (though without a guitar...); the video of that show is released in 1996.
1997 After months of wondering what the next album would sound like fans see the release of Dark Days in Paradise. The rumors were correct: it is something new for Gary. The new album is a mix of many different styles, but manages to found its unity in Gary's undeniable guitar mark. Some see it as an attempt to get closer to the "mainstream" of 1990s music, other as yet more evidence that Gary Moore can play just about anything (and very well), evolve, yet retain his very personal style.
Keep jamming out those blues Gary!
Bio written by: mr_mac |
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