To walk on the stage with no pretensions & then blow the roof off ...powerful

Johnny recaíís his lifelong love of Rory

- BY DAVID COUGHLAN

JOHNNY Marr has a new addition to his studio.

"I'm looking at a poster of him now that I got from Jill Furmanovsky about three weeks ago," he says.

"I had it framed and put up in the studio. Rainbow Theatre, March, 1973. It's a sweet picture."

The him is Rory Gallagher.

Blues virtuoso, check shirt wizard, prodigal son of Cork and Donegal, Ireland's first rock star and guitar hero to many around the world, including Smiths legend Marr.

"There was a purity about him without him being puritanical," says Marr.

"There was more to him than just showbusiness. It was almost something religious. You knew there was a vocation there.

"People who were moved by his records or shows never really lose their affection for him.

"It's not about nostalgia, it's something to do with his integrity."

Gallagher died 30 years ago this month in London aged just 47. It's impossible to overstate his importance to Irish music.

FLAME

With Taste he lit the flame for every Irish band that followed. As a solo artist, he sold millions of albums, was labelled the best guitarist in the world and was courted by The Rolling Stones.

Born in Ballyshannon and reared in Cork, Gallagher illuminated the North in the darkest days of the Troubles and had a huge following across Europe.

There's a street near Paris named in his honour.

But he was a reluctant superstar, adopting the romantic image of a lonesome gunslinger in washed-out denims, something that would eventually be part of his undoing.

"Live by the guitar die by the guitar sort of philosophy, which turned out to be quite prophetic," says Marr.

"I was such a big fan of him as a teenager. Not only did I enjoy his music and loved his shows, but I kinda clocked him in a way of carrying yourself as a musician...

"To walk on stage and with no pretensions just blow the roof off the place.