Nicky Moore, the cult vocalist who stepped in for defector Bruce Dickinson in N.W.O.B.H.M. outfit Samson in 1981 – the latter, as myth and legend have it, went on to join Iron Maiden – has passed away at the age of 75.
Nicky Moore, who had been battling Parkinson’s disease, played in plenty of bands over the course of his career, including hard rockers Mammoth. He spent his final years in a care home (a nursing facility for the elderly).
Moore was born in the West Country and got his first taste of music as a choir singer. In 1969 he co-founded Hackensack. After the band split in 1974, he joined Tiger, and the lineup of that group also featured guitarist ‘Big’ Jim Sullivan alongside Moore. Sullivan was well known as a highly in-demand session musician.
Toward the end of 1981 came the call from Samson. When he joined, Moore was a fantastic contrast to his predecessor Dickinson. Nicky was a giant of a man, and his voice could thunder and screech without limits. He brought more bluesy swagger to Samson’s sound and style, and with that new, more down-to-earth musical direction, Samson with Moore in the lineup released the albums “Before The Storm” (1982) and “Don’t Get Mad, Get Even” (1984). That era of the band is also documented on the live album “Thank You And Goodnight”, and the lineup that recorded it also included bassist Mervyn Goldsworthy and drummer Pete Jupp (both later members of British AOR sensation FM) as well as guitarist Dave ‘Bucket’ Colwell, who later joined Bad Company.
After Samson broke up, Moore sang with Mammoth, where John McCoy, a former member of Gillan, wielded the bass guitar. All four members of the band together weighed over 540 kilograms, which is more than half a ton.
Moore co-founded the lucid outfit From Behind together with the recently departed Nazareth guitarist Manny Charlton . He’s also known for his solo career, and for a while he led The Blues Corporation. Moore sang with Electric Sun too, where he was joined by former Scorpions guitarist Uli Jon Roth.
Moore rejoined Samson in 2000, but after the revival the band was active for just two years, since in 2002 bandleader and guitarist Paul Samson died of cancer. Bassist Chris Aylmer followed him five years later.
On Moore’s official Facebook profile, they wrote upon his passing: “The man who lived a thousand lives in one has decided to take a rest.”
