David Flett (born, 2 June 1951) is a Scottish rock guitarist, best known for performing with

Manfred Mann's Earth Band Manfred Mann's Earth Band are an English rock band formed by South African musician Manfred Mann. Their hits include covers of Bruce Springsteen's " For You", "Blinded by the Light" and "Spirit in the Night". After forming in 1971 and with a ...

and

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Their 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 som ...

Career

Early years and Manfred Mann

Flett began his career with local groups in Aberdeen such as Cat Squirrel, Once Upon a Band and Pinto. He later moved to London and joined an all-Aberdeen group called Jock. While he was living in London, he was recommended to

Manfred Mann Manfred Mann were an English rock band, formed in London and active between 1962 and 1969. The group were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The band had two diffe ...

and subsequently joined Manfred Mann's Earth Band, with whom he made his debut on their 1975 autumn tour of America. He performed on two Earth Band studio albums, ''

The Roaring Silence ''The Roaring Silence'' is the seventh studio album by English rock band Manfred Mann's Earth Band. It was released on 27 August 1976, by Bronze Records in the UK and by Warner Bros. Records in the US. Like other Earth Band albums, this incl ...

'' and ''

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'', which featured two hit singles in "

Blinded by the Light "Blinded by the Light" is a song written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen, a which first appeared on his 1973 debut album ''Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.'' A cover by British rock band Manfred Mann's Earth Band reached number one on the ...

" and "Davy's on the Road Again" respectively.

Thin Lizzy

After leaving Manfred Mann's Earth Band in 1978, he briefly toured as a temporary member of

after Gary Moore left the group following a concert on 4 July 1979.Alan Byrne, "Thin Lizzy: Soldiers of Fortune", Firefly, 2004 After Midge Ure initially replaced Moore, Flett was recruited in early September 1979 as lead guitarist alongside

Scott Gorham William Scott Gorham (born March 17, 1951) is an American guitarist and songwriter who is one of the "twin lead guitarists" for the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy. Although not a founding member of Thin Lizzy, he served a continuous membership afte ...

for a tour of Japan, while Ure switched to keyboards. Playing his first show with Thin Lizzy in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

on 24 September, Flett performed at five shows before the band returned home. During this tour, he and the band performed a number of songs that later surfaced on the '' Chinatown'' album the following year, such as "Didn't I" and "Sweetheart". In December he played a few Thin Lizzy shows that were arranged to compensate for missing the Reading Festival earlier in the year, and he left the group shortly before Christmas. He had wanted to remain with Thin Lizzy, but instead

Snowy White Terence Charles "Snowy" White (born 3 March 1948, Barnstaple, Devon) is an English guitarist, known for having played with Thin Lizzy (permanent member from 1980 to 1982) and with Pink Floyd (as a backing guitarist; he was first invited to tour ...

was chosen as his permanent replacement, who went on to record two albums with the band. Flett described his short tenure with Thin Lizzy as "Great times with extremely talented, generous guys."Scott Gorham and Harry Doherty, "Thin Lizzy: The Boys Are Back in Town", Omnibus Press, 2012, p. 134. After leaving Thin Lizzy, Flett formed a short lived band called Special Branch, with

Matt Irving Matt Irving (born Glasgow, Scotland; 16 March 1950 – 3 April 2015) was a Scottish musician ( keyboards, accordion, bass guitar, vocals). Irving was the bass guitar player for Manfred Mann's Earth Band between 1981 and 1986. He featured on ...

. On 11 August 1981, Flett joined Thin Lizzy onstage at a concert in his hometown of Aberdeen, as part of the

Renegade Renegade or The Renegade may refer to: Aircraft *Lake Renegade, an American amphibious aircraft design *Murphy Renegade, a Canadian ultralight biplane design *Southern Aeronautical Renegade, an American racing aircraft design Games *'' Comman ...

tour. He said, "I did guest on a few numbers with them... tshowed there were no hard feelings."

Later life

Flett is now an addictions counselor in central Florida, and in 2004, spoke out to prove his identity amid false stories spread by a man impersonating him. Prompted by this experience, Flett wrote the song "Stolen Identity", and was subsequently inspired to record an album. With the help of a number of musicians including

and John Lingwood, Flett's first solo album, ''Flying Blind'', was released in April 2014 for download.
Official Dave Flett website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flett, Dave 1951 births Living people People from Aberdeen Scottish rock guitarists Scottish male guitarists Manfred Mann's Earth Band members Thin Lizzy members British rhythm and blues boom musicians Lead guitarists