Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 1952 – 6 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career, he played in various groups and performed a range of music, including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz fusion.
Influenced by Peter Green and Eric Clapton, Moore began his career in the late 1960s when he joined Skid Row, with whom he released two albums. After Moore left the group, he joined Thin Lizzy, featuring his former Skid Row bandmate and frequent collaborator Phil Lynott. Moore began his solo career in the 1970s and achieved major success with 1979's "Parisienne Walkways", which is considered his signature song. During the 1980s, he transitioned to playing hard rock and heavy metal, achieving varying degrees of international success. In 1990, he returned to his roots with Still Got the Blues, which became his most successful album. Moore continued to release new music throughout his later career, collaborating with other artists from time to time. He died on 6 February 2011 from a heart attack while on holiday in Spain.
Moore was often described as a virtuoso and has been cited as an influence by many other guitar players. He was voted as one of the greatest guitarists of all time on respective lists by Total Guitar and Louder. Irish singer-songwriter Bob Geldof said that "without question, [Moore] was one of the great Irish bluesmen". For most of his career, Moore was heavily associated with Peter Green's famed 1959 Gibson Les Paul guitar. Moore was honoured by Heritage, Gibson and Fender with several signature model guitars.
Robert William Gary Moore was born in Belfast on 4 April 1952, the son of Winnie, a housewife, and Robert Moore, a promoter who ran the Queen's Hall ballroom in Holywood a few miles east of Belfast. The younger Robert grew up near Stormont Estate in Ballymiscaw with his four siblings. He sang "Sugartime" after his father invited him onstage to sing with a showband at an event that his father had organised. This first sparked the younger Robert's interest in music, and he credits his father with starting him in music by allowing him to perform. The older Robert bought his son his first guitar, a second-hand Framus acoustic, when Moore was 10 years old.
Though left-handed, the younger Robert learned to play the instrument right-handed. Not long after, he formed his first band, The Beat Boys, who mainly performed Beatles songs. He later joined Platform Three and The Method, amongst others. Around this time, he befriended guitarist Rory Gallagher, who often performed at the same venues as him. He left Belfast for Dublin in 1968 just as The Troubles were beginning in Northern Ireland. A year later, his parents separated.
After moving to Dublin, Moore joined the Irish blues rock band Skid Row. At the time, the group was fronted by vocalist Phil Lynott. He and Moore soon became friends and shared a bedsit in Ballsbridge, a neighbourhood in the southern part of Dublin. However, after a medical leave of absence, Lynott was asked to leave Skid Row by the band's bassist Brush Shiels, who had taken over lead vocal duties. In 1970, Skid Row signed a recording contract with CBS Records International and released their debut album Skid, which reached number 30 on the UK Albums Chart. After the album 34 Hours in 1971 and tours supporting The Allman Brothers Band and Mountain amongst others, Moore decided to leave the band. He had become frustrated by Skid Row's "limitations" and opted to start a solo career. In retrospect Moore commented, "Skid Row was a laugh but I don't have really fond memories of it, because at the time I was very mixed up about what I was doing." Sebastian Bach, former frontman of the American heavy metal band Skid Row, claimed that Moore sold them the rights to the name in 1987 for a reported $35,000. Shiels contested the story in 2012 claiming he still owns the rights. Rachel Bolan of the American Skid Row also refuted the story in 2019 saying, "There was never any money exchange. Snake and I went and trademarked the name, and there was no problem."
After leaving Skid Row, Phil Lynott formed the hard rock group Thin Lizzy. After the departure of guitarist Eric Bell, Moore was recruited to help finish the band's ongoing tour in early 1974. A 1974 performance of the song "The Rocker", on the Dutch TV programme TopPop, features Moore. Moore recorded three songs with the band during this time, including "Still in Love with You", which he co-wrote. The song was later included on Thin Lizzy's fourth album Nightlife. He left Thin Lizzy in April 1974. While he enjoyed his time in the band, he felt it wasn't good for him: "After a few months I was doing myself in, drinking and high on the whole thing."
In 1977, Moore rejoined Thin Lizzy for a tour of the United States after guitarist Brian Robertson injured his hand in a bar fight. After finishing the tour, Lynott asked Moore to join the band on a permanent basis, but he declined. Robertson eventually returned to the group, before leaving for good in 1978. Moore took his place once again, this time for long enough to record the album Black Rose: A Rock Legend, which was released in 1979. The record was a success, being certified gold in the UK. However, he abruptly left Thin Lizzy that July in the middle of another tour. He had become fed up with the band's increasing drug use and the effects it was having on their performance. He was temporarily replaced by Scotsman Midge Ure from Ultravox, then another Scotsman Dave Flett from Manfred Mann's Earth Band before English guitarist and Pink Floyd backing musician Snowy White became the official replacement for Moore. He later said that he had no regrets about leaving the band, "but maybe it was wrong the way I did it. I could've done it differently, I suppose. But I just had to leave." Thin Lizzy eventually disbanded in 1983 with Moore making guest appearances on the band's farewell tour. Some of the performances were released on the live album Life.
After Lynott's death in January 1986, Moore performed with members of Thin Lizzy at the Self Aid concert in May of that year. He joined the stage with former Thin Lizzy members again in August 2005, when a bronze statue of Lynott was unveiled in Dublin. A recording of the concert was released as One Night in Dublin: A Tribute to Phil Lynott.
In 1973, Moore released the album Grinding Stone, which was credited to The Gary Moore Band. An eclectic mix of blues, rock and jazz, it was a commercial flop with Moore still unsure of his musical direction. The Gary Moore Band had toured the UK as a supporting act during 1972. Between stints in Thin Lizzy, he released his first proper solo album Back on the Streets in 1978. It spawned a hit single, "Parisienne Walkways", which featured Phil Lynott on lead vocals and bass. The song reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart and is considered Moore's signature song. After leaving Thin Lizzy in 1979, Moore moved to Los Angeles where he signed a new recording contract with Jet Records, a British label. He recorded the album Dirty Fingers, which was shelved in favour of the more "radio-oriented" G-Force album. G-Force came out in 1980. Dirty Fingers was eventually released in Japan in 1983, followed by an international release the next year.
After moving to London and signing a new recording contract with Virgin, Moore released his second solo album Corridors of Power in 1982. While not a major success, it was the first album to feature him on lead vocals throughout as well as his first solo release to crack the Billboard 200 chart. Musically Corridors of Power featured "more of a rock feel", with additional influences from AOR bands such as Journey and REO Speedwagon. The album also featured former Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice, Whitesnake bassist Neil Murray and keyboardist Tommy Eyre, who had previously played with Moore in Greg Lake's backing band. During the supporting tour for Corridors of Power, singer John Sloman was hired to share lead vocal duties with Moore and Eyre was replaced by Don Airey. In 1984, Moore released the album Victims of the Future, which marked another musical change, this time towards hard rock and heavy metal. Neil Carter was added for the album and he continued to push Moore in the new musical direction. For the supporting tour, they were joined by former Rainbow bassist Craig Gruber and drummer Bobby Chouinard, who were later replaced by Ozzy Osbourne bassist Bob Daisley and former Roxy Music drummer Paul Thompson, respectively.