As a newspaper, we have connections to and receive press releases from, numerous firms and organizations. This morning as I was checking our emails, I ran across a press statement that caught my particular attention. It was from Mascot Label Group announcing a new release touting never before heard jams from Gary Moore … so I clicked on the email, read it, and promptly clicked on over to listen to the new song. I Loved It!!! [and you will too PreOrder Here].
I was unfamiliar with who Gary Moore is ~ was ~ but loved his blues guitar, so I did a bit of research and laughed out loud when I read his biography ….
Mr. Moore died in 2011 and this is a release of never before heard works. The Label will be released, on April 30, “How Blue Can You Get” a collection of previously unreleased songs from Moore’s substantial body of outstanding work in his back catalog.
The album contains four originals and four songs preciously recorded and made famous by classic bluesmen like Elmore James, Sonny Thompson, Memphis Slim, and BB King.
The release stated ‘It is our hope that current and future generations of music fans discover and re-discover Gary Moore, reveling in the artistry of not just a great guitarist, but a supremely talented musician who …. is apparently entertaining both sides of the veil.’
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, which featured his former Skid Row bandmate and frequent collaborator Phil Lynott. Moore began his solo career in the 1970s, achieving his first major success with 1978’s “Parisienne Walkways“, which is considered his signature song. During the 1980s, Moore transitioned into playing hard rock and heavy metal with varying degrees of success around the world. By the decade’s end, however, he had grown tired of his own music and decided to return to his roots with the 1990s Still Got the Blues, which became the most successful album of his career. He continued to release new music throughout the rest of his career, as well as collaborate with other artists from time to time.
During the early hours of February 6, 2011, ~ Moore died of a heart attack in his sleep at the age of 58. At the time, he was on holiday with his girlfriend at the Kempinski Hotel in Estepona. His death was confirmed by Thin Lizzy‘s manager Adam Parsons. The Daily Telegraph reported that his heart attack was brought on by a high level of alcohol in his body: 380 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood.
Moore was buried in a private ceremony at St Margaret’s Churchyard in Rottingdean on the south coast of England, with only family and close friends in attendance. His eldest son Jack and his uncle Cliff performed the Irish ballad “Danny Boy” at his funeral. This was reported in The Belfast Telegraph as “a flawless tribute at which some mourners in the church wept openly”
