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Bio:
The Beat Boys were Gary Moore's first (schoolboy) band. Gary Moore was a
naturally gifted guitar player. His playing ability and dedication to the instrument
was well known to his schoolfriends and playmates in the area of East Belfast where
he grew up. Though naturally left handed, he learned to play in the conventional right-handed
manner. Legend has it that when given his first guitar he could play "Wonderful Land"
by the Shadows instantly. Gary's father Bobby Moore was a promoter and he encouraged
his son's musical inclinations.
Gary Moore and Bill Downey, who also played guitar, attended Ashfield Boys Secondary School together.
They formed The Beat Boys in 1965 with Robert Thompson on bass guitar and Robert Wilkinson on
drums. For their publicity photo (shown above), the band wore matching blue shirts and white trousers. This
was Bobby Moore's idea. They
learned Beatles songs off the radio and played them at the Queens Hall in Holywood,
and again on the train journey back to Belfast for their co-passengers.
After the Beat Boys, Gary and Bill played together in various bands on-and-off for about 4-5 years before
Bill pursued his studies at Queens University and Gary followed his musical career. One of these bands was
The Spartans who'd entered a talent contest in Bangor. Bill persuaded Gary to join them temporarily
in order to improve their chances of winning.
During the heats, the band changed
lineup and became The Barons.
Lead singer Peter McClelland had very good stage presence and drove the girls wild.
They made it to the final but lost out to lesser competition when
their equipment let them down. This event was filmed for TV, which suggests footage of Gary with The Barons
is out there somewhere.
Other players included Alan Moffett (or Moffat), drummer for The Spartans, and the unnamed drummers in
the photos on this page (why is it always the drummer's name that's most likely to be forgotten?!)
If they or anyone else connected with these bands is reading this, please get in touch.
Gary Moore later played in Platform Three and The Method
(and possibly others) before moving to Dublin to join Skid Row in 1969.
Help!: We need your help to complete this entry. If you can tell us more about this band then please do! We welcome any corrections, missing details, connections to other bands, where are they now, etc. We also need photos, scans, copies of releases or live or demo recordings, and any other memorabilia gathering dust in the attic.