About

When Scott Gorham was around fourteen years old, at high school in Glendale, California, he took a semester in art. It was his first and only art lesson, and a good way to escape the typing course. “I could touch type – sixty words a minute” he reveals. “But I only got a B in the test because I couldn’t remember all the margins. But I knew I’d never want to work in an office, so I figured I’d try art.”

Scott sometimes drew pictures at home and was accepted after submitting a line portrait of his sister, Vicky. However, he was daunted by the competition. “All the kids were sat around this big table, and whenever the teacher set us a project, I would look around and think, ‘God, these people are so much better than me,’” he says. “But then she would grab my drawing and go, ‘Look, class! Scott understands what I was talking about.” I could see the other kids all looking at me, growling.”

The end of the semester marked the end of Scott’s art education. “I couldn’t remember a thing – maybe some perspective training, and some stuff about shading, but I’ve always said the most important instrument in drawing is the eraser.”

By then, Scott was playing guitar. “And the guitar always came first,” he insists. However, Scott secretly carried on drawing, while on the road with Thin Lizzy and Black Star Riders, and at home during downtime after a tour.

He just didn’t tell his fellow musicians or even his wife, Christine. Then Christine discovered a folder containing numerous drawings, some of which dated back to the early 1980s. These images were inspired by Scott’s life on the road, getting sober, the state of the planet and even the time Phil Lynott took him to his first football match.

“But none of the band, even Phil, saw any of them,” he says. “I do wonder what Phil would have thought. But on tour, these drawings were me taking myself away from the music for a few hours.’ Then, three years ago, Scott posted a drawing called ‘The Fan’ on social media to commemorate what would have been Phil Lynott’s birthday.

‘This very personal drawing drew thousands of positive responses with fans asking whether there were other drawings and where they could buy it,’ he explains. ‘It took a further three years to persuade me and agree to introduce some of my collection to the public….

I never expected to show them to anyone.”

Until now.