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Artist
Simon McBride
12+ albums
blues rockbluesrockguitarUnited Kingdom
about
As both a virtuoso guitarist and an Irishman (Hailing from near Belfast, Northern Ireland) comparisons are often made with Rory Gallagher and Gary Moore, though Simon sounds like neither in particular. McBride started playing the guitar when he was ten. By age 15 he entered Guitarist Magazine’s Young Guitarist of The Year, a performance competition staged that year at Wembley Conference Centre, which he won. Less than a year later, a few months after his sixteenth birthday, McBride was recruited by the Belfast-based metal band Sweet Savage, which reformed in 1994 without their founding guitarist, Vivian Campbell (Dio, Def Leppard), who McBride replaced. He toured with the band and recorded two albums, Killing Time 1996 and Rune[/abum] 1998. After leaving Sweet Savage in 1998, he joined fellow Irishman Andrew Strong, who made his name in the 1991 cult film The Commitments and went on to establish a singing career. Playing with Strong was in stark contrast to Sweet Savage, involving mostly of soul, R&B and some pop songs. The change of musical style was a useful learning experience and closer in style to the rock and blues artists that had inspired McBride to start playing the guitar. He spent six years touring with Strong before leaving to pursue the idea of a solo career. In 2008 McBride released his debut album, Rich Man Falling on Nugene Records, a boutique label with a specialisation in guitarists and blues-based artists. The album contains covers of Be My Friend origin
