Gary Moore's Thin Lizzy bandmate Eric Bell has paid tribute to the guitarist who died on Sunday:

"I used to see him quite regularly up until about a year ago, he was a very robust guy, he was off all drugs and he only had a few Guinness's with me, so he was a pretty healthy bloke," Eric told 6 Music.

The rock and blues guitarist passed away while on holiday in Spain, he was 58 years old.

Gary was born in Northern Ireland and started performing when he was just six years old, he met Eric some years later:

"He was a very good friend of mine, I met him when he was 11 years of age, I saw him playing one night and we became friends.

Eric explained it was Gary's passion for the guitar that impressed him the most: "He had incredible enthusiasm for music, great energy, very dedicated musician, he just lived for music."

It was with Thin Lizzy that Gary Moore found fame alongside his childhood friend Eric:

"He was a good laugh as well, a lot of people said he was kind of grumpy but I never saw him that way."

Gary garnered a reputation of being one of the greatest blues rock guitarists of his generation.

He was even more prolific in his solo work releasing twenty records and playing to hugely appreciative audiences worldwide, right up to the present day.

Eric says his popularity was simply down to his talent and passion:

"He was just as an amazing guitar player and a superb musician, he was just his energy that got me, his enthusiasm for the instrument was remarkable.

"He had a feel for it, it can sort of get that way, like you are fighting against all odds, it's just you and the guitar against the world really, that was what it was like in the early days for myself and Gary and he won through."

And how would Gary like to be remembered?

"Probably as the best guitar player that ever lived" Eric laughs.