Gary Moore

Harry Shapiro

Description

"Gary Moore is definitely in my list of top five guitar influences, right up there with Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Michael Schenker. He just blew me away from the first time I heard him." Kirk Hammett

"The most powerful, genuine, authentic blues-rock guitarist of his day." Jack Bruce

"Gary opened the door for me and a lot of other blues-rock guitarists. He was a legend, a musical titan and a very nice man." Joe Bonamassa

Gary Moore delighted entire generations with his passionate guitar playing, from the driving rock of Thin Lizzy in the 1970s to his explorations in subsequent decades of jazz fusion, heavy metal, hard rock, blues rock, and more. Throughout that time, he could be seen on the world’s biggest stages, yet the real Gary Moore was always hidden in plain sight, giving little away. Now, however, through extensive and revealing interviews with family members, friends, and fellow musicians, acclaimed rock biographer Harry Shapiro is able to take readers right to the heart of Gary’s life and career.

Despite his early death in 2011, Moore still has legions of devoted fans across the world who will be enthralled by this unique insight into the life of a guitar genius who did it his way and whose music lives on. Beginning with Gary as a teenage guitar prodigy in war-torn Ireland and continuing through the many highs and lows of more than forty years in rock, Shapiro paints an intimate portrait of a musician widely hailed as one of the greatest Irish bluesmen of all time.

Sujets

• Musique
• Culture musicale
• Histoire de la musique
• Styles
• Genres
• MUSIC
• Multiple signal classification
• Rock
• Blues

Informations

• Publié par: Jawbone Press
• Date de parution: 27 septembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781911036982
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Gary Moore: The Official Biography
Harry Shapiro
Published by arrangement with Hannibal Verlag, an imprint of Koch International GmbH, A-6604 Höfen
www.hannibal-verlag.de
This edition published in the UK and the USA by Jawbone Press, Office G1 141–157 Acre Lane, London SW2 5UA, England
www.jawbonepress.com
Copyright © 2022 Orionstar Ltd/Harry Shapiro. All rights reserved. No part of this book covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or copied in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews where the source should be made clear. For more information contact the publishers.
Cover design by Paul Palmer-Edwards. Cover photograph by Sam Scott-Hunter/Renta/Photoshot. Unless otherwise noted, all photographs used in this book are © Orionstar Ltd. All efforts have been made to contact copyright holders, but if you feel there has been a mistaken attribution, please contact the publishers.

For Kay—for everything
For Bobby and Winnie Moore

CONTENTS
Preface
Prologue
01 Against All Odds
02 Over The Hills And Far Away
03 Grinding Out The Gary Moore Band
04 Ghost In The Machine
05 Me And The Boys Were Wondering
06 Days Of Smack And Roses
07 Jet Force
08 Rockin’ Every Night
09 Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
10 The Blues Is Alright
11 Around The Next Dream
12 Different Beats
13 Business As Usual
14 Trouble Ain’t Far Behind
The Sound And The Fury
Tributes
On The Road
Discography

I’ve been searchin’ for somethin’ I might never find
I’ve been looking for something I have left behind
I’ve been searchin’ every day ok in the risin’ sun
I’ve been trying to find my way till the day is done
I’ve been searchin’
I’ve been reachin’ for something I might never touch
And I’ve been dreamin’Of something that I want so much
I’ve been counting all the tears in the falling rain
I’ve been trying to hide my fears but it’s all the same
And I don’t know if I’ll ever pass this way again
I can’t wait until tomorrow
It’s somethin’ I might never see
I can’t wait until tomorrow
For tomorrow never waits for me

PREFACE
Ian Hunter, a friend of Gary’s in his teenage years, caught up with him many years later at a concert. Gary came off stage, sweat pouring down his face, the packed, heaving crowd baying ‘We want Moore … we want Moore …’
‘Gary, how on earth do you relax after that?’ asked Ian.
Quick as a flash came the reply: ‘I play guitar.’
‘ The thing that makes you exceptional … is inevitably the thing which must also make you lonely .’ Lorraine Hansberry
Q MAGAZINE What do you never leave home without?
GARY My reputation.
RECORD COLLECTOR Who would you do for Stars In Their Eyes ?
GARY Eartha Kitt!
After I finished writing my last music book in 2010, the biography of the late and greatly missed Jack Bruce, thoughts inevitably turned to ‘What next?’ The months went by and nothing caught my imagination. And then in February 2011, Gary Moore tragically passed away. I was obviously aware of Gary, had a few of his albums and had seen him in various bands, but what took me by surprise were the glowing tributes paid to him by the likes of Joe Bonamassa, Joe Elliot, Brian May, Bob Geldof, Slash, Paul Rodgers, Kirk Hammett, the members of Saxon and Europe, and many others, citing how much of an inspiration and influence Gary had been in the world of guitarists.
Over the following weeks, I looked online and found the same outpourings from ordinary fans across the world. His guitar playing was favourably compared to the very best guitarists ever. Gary’s music and his songs had clearly touched the hearts of millions. Yet, there was a puzzle. Reader polls on ‘greatest musicians’ are of little value. Music is not like boxing, where you might be able to say who the greatest is on the basis of the number of fights won. Current popularity and commercial success also play their part in determining poll positions. Still, magazines like to run reader polls and they are popular. So, checking through recent reader polls of ‘greatest guitar players’, I found they rarely if ever mentioned Gary, whether it was a Top 50 or even Top 100. Why not? It seemed like a story waiting to be told.
This was confirmed once the book was under way and people subsequently asked what my next book would be. When I said ‘Gary Moore’, brows were furrowed until I filled the silence with ‘He was in Thin Lizzy’. I soon realised that I was dealing with a musician—like Jack, in fact—who was hidden in plain sight, known for high-profile but brief moments in a career that spanned five decades. It became even more interesting because reading magazine interviews told me little or nothing about Gary Moore the person. While always erudite and intelligent, with plenty to say, Gary kept his comments confined to the business of being a musician and band leader—latest albums and line-ups, favourite guitars and amps—and I learned that personal questions were quickly deflected or laughed off. Who was Gary Moore, this stellar guitarist who was so revered by musicians and fans alike, yet not really in the public eye?
Almost the very first thing Gary’s wife Jo said to me was, ‘You will come across people who will say Gary was the biggest arsehole in the world, but when you were hugged by Gary Moore, you stayed hugged.’ And how right she was—she had captured the paradox of Gary in a sentence. Here was a guitarist of quite exceptional talent, driven to great artistic heights both by his natural abilities and by his insecurities, fathoms-deep canyons of doubt that could cripple him, who could be extremely difficult and arrogant, often letting his mouth rule his head with untethered comments that, over the years, won him few friends in the industry. Yet he was an absolute perfectionist and a serious self-critic who set the bar incredibly high for himself and expected the same of all those around him. Once he was offstage and out of the studio, and when, crucially, the guitar came off—a guitar that was for Gary as much a shield as it was an axe—a different person was revealed. Here was an extremely shy, sensitive, warm, funny and generous individual who never took his abilities for granted and was forever learning, searching and looking around the next corner. I too went searching for the real Gary Moore, hoping in the process to bring more of his music out into the light. How successful that journey has been, of course, is for others to judge.
With few points of published reference, such a quest very much relied on the people who knew and worked with Gary. I extend my thanks to Gary’s family for their endorsement of the project and particularly to Gary’s wife Jo for all her help and support. A huge debt of gratitude also goes to Graham Lilley, who started out with Gary as his guitar technician way back in 1988 and is quite literally the fount of wisdom on all things Gary. Thanks also to Darren Main, Gary’s personal assistant for many years, for his insights, help and encouragement. And much appreciation to Gary’s business manager, Colin Newman, who made the whole project happen.
It seemed like every time I interviewed somebody, I would come away with another clutch of names of people ‘you really need to speak to’—people who were not on my already extensive list. There was also a gratifying by-product of the interview process: putting people in touch who had been out of contact, in some cases since school days, half a century ago. Unless a published source is mentioned, all the interviews were conducted by me while writing the book. I conducted one interview with Gary for my biography of Jack. All other direct quotes from Gary are from published sources.
Sadly, since the book was completed, eight of those interviewed have passed away: Noel Bridgeman, Jack Bruce, Jon Hiseman, Greg Lake, Craig Gruber, Frank Murray, Chris Tsangarides and Steve York, as have Gary’s father and mother. So, thanks to them and all the others for sharing their memories of Gary:
Don Airey, Bill Allen, Prue Almond, Stuart Bailie, Gerry Raymond-Barker, Steve Barnett, James Barton, Eric Bell, Smiley Bolger, Kerry Booth, Tim Booth, Andy Bradfield, Rob Braniff, Ceri Campbell, Donna Campbell, Jeannie Campbell, Ted Carroll, Neil Carter, Clem Clempson, Peter Collins, Chris Cordington, Andy Crookston, Brian Crothers, Steve Croxford, Pete Cummins, John Curtis, Bob Daisley, Ed Deane, Barry Dickins, Steve Dixon, Harry Doherty, Bill Downey, Brian Downey, Johnny Duhan, Hans Engel, Gary Ferguson, Magnus Fiennes, Steven Fletcher, Mo Foster, Melissa Fountain, Lisa Franklin, Jeff Glixman, Scott Gorham, Tim Goulding, Rob Green, Richard Griffiths, John Henry, Nik Henville, Bill Hindmarsh, George Hoffman, Tim Hole, Glenn Hughes, Billy Hunter, Graham Hunter, Ian Hunter, Gary Husband, Andy Irvine, George Jones, Pearse Kelly, Roger Kelly, Sylvia Keogh, William Lamour, Austen Lennon, Dave Lennox, Cass Lewis, Dave Lewis, Ivan Little, Bernie Marsden, Neville Marten, Colin Martin, John Martin, Vic Martin, Paul McAuley, Pete McLelland, Dick Meredith, James Meredith, Malcolm Mill, Alan Moffatt, Darrin Mooney, Charlie Morgan, Neil Murray, Mark Nauseef, Tony Newton, Geoff Nicholson, Jon Noyce, Chris O’Donnell, Terry O’Neill, Sharon Osbourne, Ian Paice, Jim Palmer, Teddie Palmer, Willie Palmer, Ivan Pawle, Simon Phillips, Tony Platt, Guy Pratt, Peter Price, Andy Pyle, Pete Rees, Ian Robertson, Jan Schelhaas, Paul Scully, Brush Shiels, Eric Singer, Nigel Smith, Dirk Sommer, Mike Starrs, Joe Staunton, Ian Taylor, Otis Taylor, Tony Tierney, Graham Walker, Jon Webster, Stuart Weston, Terry Woods and John Wooler.
Special thanks to Zoli Csillag, curator of the Gary Moore fan site, Lord of the Strings, for all kinds of help and assistance, especially with the discography. I am also grateful to O.J. Backman, John Berg, Carl Culpepper, Colin Harper, Lola Martin, Peter Neilsen, Adam Parsons, Mary Pawle,