It was with great regret we learn today of the untimely death of legendary blues rock guitarist and singer Gary Moore. The musician was found dead in his room at the luxury Kempinski Resort Hotel in Estepona in the early hours of this morning. A postmortem is due to be carried out later today in the nearby city of Malaga to investigate the cause of his death. The musician aged 58, from Belfast is understood to have been on holiday at the time.
Electric guitar players everywhere, please stop awhile and listen to true genius share his music.
Moore collaborated with a broad range of artists during his music career including The Right Honourable The Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lord Webber, the most commercially successful composer in history, who now resides at Kiltinan Castle, Fethard, Co Tipperary, colaborated with Garry Moore on the composer’s ‘Variations’ album in 1977.
Lord Webber chose the theme of Paganini’s 24th caprice and added 23 variations for cello and rock band. The work premiered at the 1977 Sydmonton Festival featuring Gary Moore, joined by Barbara Thompson on Sax and Flute, Rod Argent on Piano, Synthesizer and Keyboards and Julian Lloyd Webber on Cello. It was subsequently rearranged and recorded in 1978 reaching number 2 in the album charts.
In a career which dates back to the 1960’s, Robert William Gary Moore, to give him his full title, shared the stage with many blues and rock luminaries including Phil Lynott, Skid Row, Brian Downey, B.B. King, Albert King, Colosseum II, Greg Lake, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan to name but a few.
Moore’s greatest influence in his early days came from his association with guitarist Peter Green, of ‘Fleetwood Mac’ fame, who was a mentor to Moore while performing in Dublin. Green’s continued influence on Moore was later repaid as a tribute to Green on his 1995 album ‘Blues for Greeny,’ an album consisting entirely of Green compositions. On this tribute album Moore played Green’s 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar, which Green had lent to Moore after leaving Fleetwood Mac. Moore ultimately purchased this guitar, at Green’s request, so that “it would have a good home”.
Moore throughout his career was recognised as an influence by many notable guitarists including Vivian Campbell, Patrick Rondat, Jake E. Lee, John Norum, Joe Bonamassa, Adrian Smith, Randy Rhoads, John Sykes, Kirk Hammett and Gus G.
Ar Dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.
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