Eric Bell
Encyclopedia
Eric Robin Bell is a Northern Irish rock
musician
and guitarist
, best known as a founder member and the original guitarist of the rock group Thin Lizzy
.
to feature Van Morrison
, between September and October 1966. He also played with a number of other bands including Shades of Blue, The Earth Dwellers and The Bluebeats, before joining an Irish showband
named The Dreams. He left in 1969 having tired of the showband format, and at the end of that year he formed a band with local musicians Phil Lynott
, Eric Wrixon
and Brian Downey
. Bell named the group Thin Lizzy
, after Tin Lizzie, a robot character in The Dandy
comic.
. As lead guitarist, Bell played on Thin Lizzy's first three albums Thin Lizzy
, Shades of a Blue Orphanage
and Vagabonds of the Western World
, as well as their hit single "Whiskey in the Jar
". He co-wrote a number of songs with Lynott and Downey, including "The Rocker
" which became a live favourite throughout the band's career. He also composed one song on his own, "Ray Gun", from their first album, Thin Lizzy.
Although Thin Lizzy gained in popularity during the early 1970s, the pressures of recording, touring and the excesses of the rock star lifestyle began to take their toll. He left the band after a New Year's Eve concert in 1973, after throwing his guitar into the air in the middle of the concert, pushing the amplifier
s into the audience and storming off stage. He stated later that he had no regrets about leaving: "I really had to leave because of ill-health. It was exhaustion, and the majority of things that were available to me... I couldn't really handle it." He was temporarily replaced by Gary Moore
.
sideman Noel Redding
, along with keyboardist Dave Clarke
and drummer Les Sampson, to form The Noel Redding Band
. Bell was initially unsure of the musical direction Redding was taking, but went on to record two albums with the group before they split in 1976. A third album of unused tracks was released in 1995. Bell composed the song "Love and War" for the second album, Blowin'
.
and given away with Flexipop Magazine
in August 1981. It was later included on the Thin Lizzy Vagabonds, Kings, Warriors, Angels
box set in 2002. Bell also appeared as a guest on Thin Lizzy's final tour in 1983, and the accompanying live album, Life
.
Bell had also reactivated his own band in the late 1970s, and released an E.P.
in 1981.
Bell subsequently joined saxophonist
Dick Heckstall-Smith
's eight-piece blues rock ensemble Mainsqueeze. They toured Europe, recorded a live album in 1983, and later toured as Bo Diddley
's backing group, recording the Hey... Bo Diddley: In Concert
album in 1986.
In 2005, he joined Gary Moore onstage to perform "Whiskey in the Jar" at the Phil Lynott tribute concert "The Boy Is Back in Town" in the Point Theatre
, Dublin. This was released on a DVD called One Night in Dublin: A Tribute to Phil Lynott
. In 2010, Bell moved from London where he had lived for many years to his new home in West Cork, Ireland.
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
and guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, best known as a founder member and the original guitarist of the rock group Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums...
.
Early career
Bell began his career with local groups around the Belfast area, including the last incarnation of ThemThem (band)
Them were a Northern Irish band formed in Belfast in April 1964, most prominently known for the garage rock standard "Gloria" and launching singer Van Morrison's musical career...
to feature Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
, between September and October 1966. He also played with a number of other bands including Shades of Blue, The Earth Dwellers and The Bluebeats, before joining an Irish showband
Irish showband
The Irish Showband was a dance band format which was popular in Ireland during the early rock and roll era from mid 1950s to the late 1970s. The showband was based on the internationally popular six or seven piece dance band. The band's basic repertoire included standard dance numbers and cover...
named The Dreams. He left in 1969 having tired of the showband format, and at the end of that year he formed a band with local musicians Phil Lynott
Phil Lynott
Philip Parris "Phil" Lynott was an Irish musician who first came to prominence as a founding member, principal songwriter, and frontman of the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy....
, Eric Wrixon
Eric Wrixon
Eric Wrixon is a musician from Northern Ireland. He was a founder member of both Them and Thin Lizzy. It was Wrixon who came up with the enigmatic band name 'Them' but as he was a minor, his parents declined to sign a recording contract on his behalf and he was replaced prior to recording with the...
and Brian Downey
Brian Downey (drummer)
Brian Michael Downey is an Irish drummer.Downey is the drummer and a founding member of the rock band Thin Lizzy, and a friend from childhood of co-founder and frontman Phil Lynott. Along with Lynott, Downey was the only constant member of the pioneering hard rock group until their break-up in...
. Bell named the group Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums...
, after Tin Lizzie, a robot character in The Dandy
The Dandy
The Dandy is a long running children's comic published in the United Kingdom by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. The first issue was printed in 1937 and it is the world's third longest running comic, after Detective Comics and Il Giornalino...
comic.
Thin Lizzy
Wrixon left Thin Lizzy after a few months, and the remaining trio later secured a contract with Decca RecordsDecca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
. As lead guitarist, Bell played on Thin Lizzy's first three albums Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy (album)
Thin Lizzy is the first studio album by Irish hard rock band Thin Lizzy, released in 1971.-Track listing:Side one# "The Friendly Ranger at Clontarf Castle" – 3:01# "Honesty Is No Excuse" – 3:40...
, Shades of a Blue Orphanage
Shades of a Blue Orphanage
Shades of a Blue Orphanage is the second studio album by Irish band Thin Lizzy, released in 1972. The title is a combination of the members' previous bands: Shades of Blue and Orphanage....
and Vagabonds of the Western World
Vagabonds of the Western World
Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic describes the album as "brimming with attitude and dangerous swagger", and Thin Lizzy's "first sonically satisfying album", with "The Rocker" their "first bona fide classic"...
, as well as their hit single "Whiskey in the Jar
Whiskey in the Jar
"Whiskey in the Jar" is a famous Irish traditional song, set in the southern mountains of Ireland, with specific mention of counties Cork and Kerry, as well as Fenit, a village in county Kerry. It is about a Rapparee , who is betrayed by his wife or lover, and is one of the most widely performed...
". He co-wrote a number of songs with Lynott and Downey, including "The Rocker
The Rocker
"The Rocker" is a song by Irish rock group Thin Lizzy, included on their 1973 album Vagabonds of the Western World. It was also released as a single in a 2:41 edited format, the original album track stretching to 5:17, most of the extra length being taken up by an extended guitar solo by Eric Bell...
" which became a live favourite throughout the band's career. He also composed one song on his own, "Ray Gun", from their first album, Thin Lizzy.
Although Thin Lizzy gained in popularity during the early 1970s, the pressures of recording, touring and the excesses of the rock star lifestyle began to take their toll. He left the band after a New Year's Eve concert in 1973, after throwing his guitar into the air in the middle of the concert, pushing the amplifier
Amplifier
Generally, an amplifier or simply amp, is a device for increasing the power of a signal.In popular use, the term usually describes an electronic amplifier, in which the input "signal" is usually a voltage or a current. In audio applications, amplifiers drive the loudspeakers used in PA systems to...
s into the audience and storming off stage. He stated later that he had no regrets about leaving: "I really had to leave because of ill-health. It was exhaustion, and the majority of things that were available to me... I couldn't really handle it." He was temporarily replaced by Gary Moore
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer....
.
The Noel Redding Band
In 1974, after a brief period fronting his own Eric Bell Band, Bell was recruited by ex-Jimi HendrixJimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
sideman Noel Redding
Noel Redding
Noel Redding was an English rock and roll guitarist best known as the bassist for The Jimi Hendrix Experience.-Biography:...
, along with keyboardist Dave Clarke
Dave Clarke (musician)
Dave Clarke is a singer, guitarist and keyboard player.-Biography:Clarke started playing piano at the age of 4 and guitar at 9. His first record in 1963 was produced by Luigi Creatore at New York’s Roulette Records. Often confused with his Dave Clark Five namesake, his 1971 solo album Pale Horse...
and drummer Les Sampson, to form The Noel Redding Band
The Noel Redding Band
The Noel Redding Band were an Irish folk rock supergroup that formed in Clonakilty, County Cork in 1972...
. Bell was initially unsure of the musical direction Redding was taking, but went on to record two albums with the group before they split in 1976. A third album of unused tracks was released in 1995. Bell composed the song "Love and War" for the second album, Blowin'
Blowin' (album)
-Personnel:The Noel Redding Band*Noel Redding – bass, vocals, guitar*David Clarke – vocals, keyboards, piano*Eric Bell – guitar, vocals*Les Sampson – drums, percussionAdditional personnel*Andy Kealey – vocals...
.
The 1980s and Mainsqueeze
In 1980, Bell reunited with Thin Lizzy to record a tribute song to Jimi Hendrix, "Song for Jimmy" [sic], which was released as an orange flexi discFlexi disc
The flexi disc is a phonograph record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal phonograph turntable...
and given away with Flexipop Magazine
Flexipop Magazine
Flexipop magazine was famous for the re-emergence of the flexible music disc in the UK during the 1980s. Launched in 1980 by ex-Record Mirror journalists Barry Cain and Tim Lott, the magazine featured a flexidisc in each issue. The magazine lasted for two years...
in August 1981. It was later included on the Thin Lizzy Vagabonds, Kings, Warriors, Angels
Vagabonds, Kings, Warriors, Angels
Vagabonds, Kings, Warriors, Angels is a 2002 4-disc set by Irish rock group Thin Lizzy, which also contains a booklet chronicling the life of the band and music in some detail.-Track listing:Disc 1#"The Farmer"...
box set in 2002. Bell also appeared as a guest on Thin Lizzy's final tour in 1983, and the accompanying live album, Life
Life (Thin Lizzy album)
Life is a double live album by Irish band Thin Lizzy, released in 1983. This double album was recorded during their farewell tour in 1983, principally at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, UK...
.
Bell had also reactivated his own band in the late 1970s, and released an E.P.
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
in 1981.
Bell subsequently joined saxophonist
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
Dick Heckstall-Smith
Dick Heckstall-Smith
Dick Heckstall-Smith was an English jazz and blues saxophonist. He played with some of the most important English blues-rock and jazz fusion bands of the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:...
's eight-piece blues rock ensemble Mainsqueeze. They toured Europe, recorded a live album in 1983, and later toured as Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley
Ellas Otha Bates , known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter , and inventor...
's backing group, recording the Hey... Bo Diddley: In Concert
Hey... Bo Diddley: In Concert
Hey... Bo Diddley: In Concert is a 1986 live album by Bo Diddley, recorded on a European tour. His backing band for the performances on the album were Mainsqueeze, featuring guitarist Eric Bell, previously of Thin Lizzy, and Dick Heckstall-Smith, the jazz and blues saxophonist...
album in 1986.
Later career
Bell has continued to perform and record with the Eric Bell Band throughout the 1990s and 2000s, releasing several albums. He has also recorded with the Barrelhouse Brothers.In 2005, he joined Gary Moore onstage to perform "Whiskey in the Jar" at the Phil Lynott tribute concert "The Boy Is Back in Town" in the Point Theatre
Point Theatre
The Point Theatre was a concert and events venue in Ireland, that ran from 1988–2007, enjoyed by in excess of 2 million people. It was located on the North Wall Quay of the River Liffey, amongst the Dublin Docklands...
, Dublin. This was released on a DVD called One Night in Dublin: A Tribute to Phil Lynott
One Night in Dublin: A Tribute to Phil Lynott
One Night in Dublin: A Tribute to Phil Lynott is a live DVD by Gary Moore credited to "Gary Moore and Friends".On the night of August 20 2005, Gary Moore staged a concert at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland...
. In 2010, Bell moved from London where he had lived for many years to his new home in West Cork, Ireland.
Thin Lizzy
- Thin LizzyThin Lizzy (album)Thin Lizzy is the first studio album by Irish hard rock band Thin Lizzy, released in 1971.-Track listing:Side one# "The Friendly Ranger at Clontarf Castle" – 3:01# "Honesty Is No Excuse" – 3:40...
(1971) - Shades of a Blue OrphanageShades of a Blue OrphanageShades of a Blue Orphanage is the second studio album by Irish band Thin Lizzy, released in 1972. The title is a combination of the members' previous bands: Shades of Blue and Orphanage....
(1972) - Vagabonds of the Western WorldVagabonds of the Western WorldEduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic describes the album as "brimming with attitude and dangerous swagger", and Thin Lizzy's "first sonically satisfying album", with "The Rocker" their "first bona fide classic"...
(1973) - "Song for Jimmy" - Flexipop single (1981)
- LifeLife (Thin Lizzy album)Life is a double live album by Irish band Thin Lizzy, released in 1983. This double album was recorded during their farewell tour in 1983, principally at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, UK...
(1983)
The Noel Redding Band
- Clonakilty CowboysClonakilty Cowboys-Personnel:The Noel Redding Band*Noel Redding – bass, vocals, guitar arrangements*David Clarke – vocals, keyboards, piano, organ, clavinet*Eric Bell – guitar, vocals*Les Sampson – drums, percussionAdditional personnel...
(1975) - Blowin'Blowin' (album)-Personnel:The Noel Redding Band*Noel Redding – bass, vocals, guitar*David Clarke – vocals, keyboards, piano*Eric Bell – guitar, vocals*Les Sampson – drums, percussionAdditional personnel*Andy Kealey – vocals...
(1976) - The Missing AlbumThe Missing AlbumGreg Prato's review in allmusic said little about the album's content, only noting that it is easily distinguishable from the work of other bands which one of the members, Noel Redding, had worked with...
(1995)
Mainsqueeze
- Live at Ronnie Scott's Club (France, 1983)
- Hey... Bo Diddley: In ConcertHey... Bo Diddley: In ConcertHey... Bo Diddley: In Concert is a 1986 live album by Bo Diddley, recorded on a European tour. His backing band for the performances on the album were Mainsqueeze, featuring guitarist Eric Bell, previously of Thin Lizzy, and Dick Heckstall-Smith, the jazz and blues saxophonist...
– as backing group for Bo DiddleyBo DiddleyEllas Otha Bates , known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter , and inventor...
(1986)
Eric Bell Band
- "The Eric Bell Band E.P." (1981)
- "Lonely Man / Anyone Seen My Baby" – single version of the E.P. (1981)
- Live Tonite (Sweden, 1996)
- Irish Boy (Spain, 1998)
- Live Tonite Plus (Extra tracks, 2001)
- A Blues Night in Dublin (2002)
- Lonely Nights in London (2010)