Gary Moore, who died yesterday on the Costa del Sol at 58, was a musician with two careers.
The first was as the guitarist for Thin Lizzy, the Irish rock band who have become increasingly influential in the years after the death of their lead singer, Phil Lynott, in 1986.
The second was as a blues-rock virtuoso who understood the value of playing with restraint. While rarely fashionable, Moore was acclaimed as a musician’s musician, held up by blues pioneers such as BB King and Albert King as a worthy inheritor of their craft and passion.
Moore, who was left-handed but learned to play right-handed guitar, was not as incendiary as Jimi Hendrix, as precise as Eric Clapton or as flashy as Jimmy Page, but