Roger Taylor pays tribute to Gary Moore

Roger taylor

Roger taylor

© Jens Kalaene/dpa/Corbis

Roger Taylor has paid tribute to Gary Moore, saying that the blues guitar hero's music will "live on".

Roger told Classic Rock: "It was my wife who told me the news. It's terrible: 58 is just too early. In Phil [Lynott]'s case it was tragic, and in Gary's case there should have been a lot more years.

"I have great memories of Gary on tour in Thin Lizzy with Queen: always smiling, very cheerful and… too young to die. He'd recently joined Lizzy and he fitted in great: a blindingly fast player, and his thing was these staccato runs, with a bit of jazz in there. Totally different to Brian [May], who's a very fluid player, but musicians usually 'get' other rated musicians, and Brian very much enjoyed his playing.

"Over the years, I'd see Gary out in the clubs: a great guy on the scene. He liked to drink, as I remember, but everybody did in those days. It's very sad. But I think his music will live on. Virtuosity is something we really don't have now: there are lots of great bands, but the emphasis just isn't on that anymore. In those days, it was all about how great you were; there were so many virtuosos and he was definitely one of them. He was a star player."

Moore died at the weekend of a suspected heart attack aged 58.

Rich Chamberlain

Rich is a teacher, one time Rhythm staff writer and experienced freelance journalist who has interviewed countless revered musicians, engineers, producers and stars for the our world-leading music making portfolio, including such titles as Rhythm, Total Guitar, Guitarist, Guitar World, and MusicRadar. His victims include such luminaries as Ice T, Mark Guilani and Jamie Oliver (the drumming one).