Dave Flett | |
---|---|
Birth name | David Flett |
Born | 1951 Aberdeen, Scotland |
Genres | Rock, progressive rock |
Occupation(s) | Musician, singer-songwriter |
Instruments | Guitar |
Years active | 1970–present |
Associated acts | Thin Lizzy, Manfred Mann's Earth Band |
Website | Official Dave Flett website |
David Flett (born, 2 June 1951) is a Scottish rock guitarist, best known for performing with Manfred Mann's Earth Band and Thin Lizzy.
Flett began his career with local groups in Aberdeen such as Cat Squirrel, Once Upon a Band and Pinto. He later moved to London and joined an all-Aberdeen group called Jock. While he was living in London, he was recommended to Manfred Mann and subsequently joined Manfred Mann's Earth Band, with whom he made his debut on their 1975 autumn tour of America. [1] He performed on two Earth Band studio albums, The Roaring Silence and Watch , which featured two hit singles in "Blinded by the Light" and "Davy's on the Road Again" respectively.
After leaving Manfred Mann's Earth Band in 1978, he briefly toured as a temporary member of Thin Lizzy after Gary Moore left the group following a concert on 4 July 1979. [2] After Midge Ure initially replaced Moore, Flett was recruited in early September 1979 as lead guitarist alongside Scott Gorham for a tour of Japan, while Ure switched to keyboards. Playing his first show with Thin Lizzy in Osaka on 24 September, Flett performed at five shows before the band returned home. [3] During this tour, he and the band performed a number of songs that later surfaced on the Chinatown album the following year, such as "Didn't I" and "Sweetheart". In December he played a few Thin Lizzy shows that were arranged to compensate for missing the Reading Festival earlier in the year, and he left the group shortly before Christmas. He had wanted to remain with Thin Lizzy, but instead Snowy White was chosen as his permanent replacement, who went on to record two albums with the band. Flett described his short tenure with Thin Lizzy as "Great times with extremely talented, generous guys." [4]
After leaving Thin Lizzy, Flett formed a short lived band called Special Branch, with Matt Irving. [1] On 11 August 1981, Flett joined Thin Lizzy onstage at a concert in his hometown of Aberdeen, as part of the Renegade tour. He said, "I did guest on a few numbers with them... [it] showed there were no hard feelings." [2]
Flett is now an addictions counselor in central Florida, and in 2004, spoke out to prove his identity amid false stories spread by a man impersonating him. [5]
Prompted by this experience, Flett wrote the song "Stolen Identity", and was subsequently inspired to record an album. With the help of a number of musicians including Manfred Mann and John Lingwood, Flett's first solo album, Flying Blind, was released in April 2014 for download. Official Dave Flett website
Thin Lizzy are a hard rock band formed in Dublin, Ireland, in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist and lead vocalist Phil Lynott, met while still in school. Lynott led the group throughout their recording career of twelve studio albums, writing most of the material. The singles "Whiskey in the Jar", "The Boys Are Back in Town" and "Waiting for an Alibi" were international hits. After Lynott's death in 1986, various incarnations of the band emerged over the years based initially around guitarists Scott Gorham and John Sykes, though Sykes left the band in 2009. Gorham later continued with a new line-up including Downey.
Robert William Gary Moore was a Northern Irish musician and songwriter. Over the course of his career he played in various groups and performed an eclectic range of music including blues, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz fusion.
Philip Parris Lynott was an Irish singer, musician, and songwriter. His most commercially successful group was Thin Lizzy, of which he was a founding member, the principal songwriter, lead vocalist and bassist. He was known for his imaginative lyrical contributions including working class tales and numerous characters drawn from personal influences and Celtic culture.
James Ure is a Scottish musician, singer-songwriter and producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim, the diminutive form of his actual name. Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980s in bands including Slik, Thin Lizzy, Rich Kids and Visage, and as the frontman of Ultravox. In 1984, he co-wrote and produced the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?", which has sold 3.7 million copies in the UK. The song is the second highest-selling single in UK chart history. Ure co-organised Band Aid, Live Aid and Live 8 with Bob Geldof. He acts as a trustee for the charity and also serves as an ambassador for Save the Children.
Eric Robin Bell is a Northern Irish rock and blues musician, best known as a founding member and the original guitarist of the rock group Thin Lizzy. After his time in Thin Lizzy, he briefly fronted his own group before joining The Noel Redding Band in the mid-1970s. He has since released several solo albums and performs regularly with a blues-based trio, the Eric Bell Band.
William Scott Gorham is an American guitarist and songwriter who was one of the "twin lead guitarists" for the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy. Although not a founding member of Thin Lizzy, he served a continuous membership after passing an audition in 1974, joining the band at a time when the band's future was in doubt after the departures of original guitarist Eric Bell and his brief replacement Gary Moore. Gorham remained with Thin Lizzy until the band's breakup in 1984. He and guitarist Brian Robertson, both hired at the same time, marked the beginning of the band's most critically successful period, and together developed Thin Lizzy's twin lead guitar style while contributing dual backing vocals as well. Gorham is the band member with the longest membership after founders Brian Downey (drummer) and frontman and bass guitarist, Phil Lynott.
Brian David Robertson is a Scottish rock guitarist, best known as a former member of Thin Lizzy and Motörhead.
Manfred Mann's Earth Band is an English rock band formed by South African musician Manfred Mann. Their hits include covers of Bruce Springsteen's "For You", "Blinded by the Light" and "Spirit in the Night". After forming in 1971 and with a short hiatus in the late 1980s/early 1990s, the Earth Band continues to perform and tour.
Chinatown is the tenth studio album by Irish band Thin Lizzy, released in 1980. It introduced guitarist Snowy White who would also perform on the next album as well as tour with Thin Lizzy between 1980 and 1982; he replaced Gary Moore as permanent guitarist. White had previously worked with Cliff Richard, Peter Green and Pink Floyd. Chinatown also featured eighteen-year-old Darren Wharton on keyboards, and he joined Thin Lizzy as a permanent member later that year.
Terence Charles "Snowy" White is an English guitarist, known for having played with Thin Lizzy and with Pink Floyd, and more recently, for Roger Waters' band. He is also known for his 1983 solo offering "Bird of Paradise", which became a UK Singles Chart Top 10 hit single.
Brian Michael Downey is an Irish drummer. He was a founding member of the rock band Thin Lizzy and the only other constant in the band aside from leader Phil Lynott until their break-up in 1983. Downey also co-wrote several Thin Lizzy songs. Allmusic critic Eduardo Rivadavia has argued that Downey is "certainly one of the most underrated [rock drummers] of his generation".
Darren Leigh Wharton is a British keyboardist, singer and songwriter. He has fronted his own band, Dare, since 1985, but first came to attention as a member of Thin Lizzy. His son, Paris, is also a musician.
Damon Rogers Johnson is an American guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter, currently a solo artist and member of Thin Lizzy. In the 1990s he co-founded Brother Cane, and later joined Alice Cooper's band as lead guitarist. He was also the lead guitarist and co-songwriter for hard rock group Black Star Riders from 2012 to 2018. Johnson has also released several solo albums and his songs have been recorded by many artists including Stevie Nicks and Carlos Santana.
Angel Station is the ninth album released by Manfred Mann's Earth Band, released in 1979. Several line-up changes were made for this album. Ex-Wings drummer Geoff Britton replaced founding drummer Chris Slade and Steve Waller replaced guitarist Dave Flett. Britton left the band soon after due to illness, and was replaced by John Lingwood. Also in the line-up were Pat King on bass guitar from the then current line-up and Chris Thompson.
Stephen Charles Waller was a British musician best known as the lead guitarist and a vocalist for Manfred Mann's Earth Band between 1979 and 1983. He featured on the albums Angel Station, Chance, I , Somewhere in Afrika and Budapest Live and was the replacement for Earth Band guitarist Dave Flett, who left the band in 1978.
"Waiting for an Alibi" is a song by Irish rock band Thin Lizzy, and the first single from their 1979 album, Black Rose: A Rock Legend. Black Rose was the only Thin Lizzy album recorded while Gary Moore was a member of the band, and he left soon after.
"Sarah" is a pop song released in 1979 by Irish rock group Thin Lizzy, included on their album, Black Rose: A Rock Legend. The song was written by the band's frontman Phil Lynott and guitarist Gary Moore about Lynott's newborn daughter. The song was also issued as a single, and appeared on several compilation albums including Wild One: The Very Best of Thin Lizzy. The song was never performed live by Thin Lizzy, but it was adopted as a live favourite by Lynott's post-Thin Lizzy project, Grand Slam, and featured on Live in Sweden 1983, a recording of Lynott's solo band.
One Night in Dublin: A Tribute to Phil Lynott is a live DVD by Gary Moore credited to "Gary Moore and Friends".
"Yellow Pearl" is a song recorded by Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott, originally for his 1980 solo album, Solo in Soho. It was written by Lynott and Midge Ure, who was a temporary member of Thin Lizzy at the time, and who later went on to join Ultravox. It was subsequently remixed and released again on Lynott's second album, The Philip Lynott Album. The remixed version was used as the theme music to the British music chart television programme, Top of the Pops, from 1981 to 1986.