Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in The band initially consisted of bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Phil Lynott , drummer Brian Downey , guitarist Eric Bell and organist Eric Wrixon although Wrixon left after a few months.
Bell left at the end of and was briefly replaced by Gary Moore , who himself was replaced in mid by twin lead guitarists: Scott Gorham , who remained with the band until their break-up in , and Brian Robertson , who remained with the band until when Moore re-joined.
Moore left a second time and was replaced by Snowy White in , who was himself replaced by John Sykes in The line-up was augmented by keyboardist Darren Wharton in The band's music reflects a wide range of influences including blues , soul music , psychedelic rock , and traditional Irish folk music , but is generally classified as hard rock or sometimes heavy metal.
Lynott led the group throughout their fourteen-year recording career of twelve studio albums, writing or co-writing almost all the band's material.
He was the first Black Irishman to achieve commercial success in the field of rock music. Thin Lizzy featured several guitarists throughout their history, with Downey and Lynott as the rhythm section on the drums and bass guitar. As well as being multiracial, the band drew their early members not only from both sides of the Irish border but from both the Catholic and Protestant communities during The Troubles.
