Garrick Roberts (16 June 1950 – 9 November 2022) was an Irish musician best known as the lead guitarist with

The Boomtown Rats The Boomtown Rats are an Irish rock/ new wave band originally formed in Dublin in 1975. Between 1977 and 1985, they had a series of Irish and UK hits including " Like Clockwork", " Rat Trap", " I Don't Like Mondays" and " Banana Republic". T ...

, a band which came into being in 1976. He and Johnnie Fingers (Moylett) had decided to put a band together and, between them, they recruited the other four members,

Pete Briquette Patrick Martin Cusack (born 2 July 1954), known by the stage name Pete Briquette, is an Irish bassist, record producer and composer. He is a member of the Boomtown Rats and has also played in Bob Geldof's band. Boomtown Rats He was born in Ba ...

(bass), Gerry Cott (guitar), Simon Crowe (drums), and singer

Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved popularity as part ...

Career

Roberts was a founder and the lead guitarist of the band

, which came into being in 1976. After The Boomtown Rats disbanded in 1986, Roberts worked as a live

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a sound recording, recording or a Concert, live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization (audio), equalization, Dynamic range ...

with a number of bands, including

Simply Red Simply Red are an English soul music, soul and pop band formed in Manchester in 1985. Band leader, singer and songwriter Mick Hucknall was the only original member left by the time Simply Red initially disbanded in 2010. They have released thir ...

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Meols, Merseyside in 1978 by Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals). Regarded as pioneers of electronic musi ...

and

Flesh For Lulu Flesh for Lulu were an English rock band formed in Brixton, London, England, active between 1982 and 1992. They reformed from 2013 to 2015 with a new lineup. Initially part of the post-punk scene, the band's sound shifted to reflect influences ...

. After having worked successfully as an Independent Financial Adviser for fifteen years, he had become disillusioned with the life insurance industry and became a

central heating A central heating system provides warmth to a number of spaces within a building from one main source of heat. A central heating system has a Furnace (central heating), furnace that converts fuel or electricity to heat through processes. The he ...

engineer to keep himself occupied between gigs. He avoided playing the guitar in public for ten years, after which he and Simon Crowe played together for four years in the rhythm and blues four-piece band The Velcro Flies. In 2008, Roberts and Crowe, with Darren Beale on second lead guitar and Peter Barton on bass guitar and lead vocals, began playing together as The Rats, performing material from the first three Boomtown Rats albums across Europe and the UK. He also ran guitar workshop in schools, introducing children to the electric guitar, basic techniques and a brief history of pop and rock a In 2013, Roberts and Crowe both joined a reunited Boomtown Rats lineup, touring internationally and releasing the 2020 album ''Citizens Of Boomtown''.

Personal life

Roberts lived in

Bromyard Bromyard is a town in the parish of Bromyard and Winslow, in Herefordshire, England, in the valley of the River Frome, Herefordshire, River Frome. It is near the county border with Worcestershire on the A44 road, A44 between Leominster and Worc ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

. He died on 9 November 2022, at the age of 72.

References

External links

* * 1950 births 2022 deaths Irish rock guitarists Irish male guitarists The Boomtown Rats members People from Bromyard Musicians from Herefordshire Irish new wave musicians Musicians from County Dublin 20th-century Irish guitarists 21st-century Irish guitarists 20th-century Irish male musicians 21st-century Irish male musicians {{Guitarist-stub