28 Facts About Ricky Warwick

Ricky Warwick was born on 11 July 1966 and is a Northern Irish musician and the lead singer of the rock bands Black Star Riders and Thin Lizzy.

Ricky Warwick is the frontman for the Scottish hard rock band The Almighty, with whom he achieved chart success in the UK throughout the 1990s.

Ricky Warwick was born in Newtownards, County Down, where he spent his formative years, and got his first guitar at 14 years old.

Ricky Warwick was playing along to songs by various rock and country acts such as Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash.

Ricky Warwick quickly migrated to the music of more harder-edged acts such as Motorhead, MC5, Stiff Little Fingers and The Clash.

Ricky Warwick first met his future bandmates Stump Monroe and Floyd London at his new school in Scotland.

Ricky Warwick got his first break in the late 1980s, when he was invited to join New Model Army as a rhythm guitarist on their The Ghost of Cain album world tour.

Ricky Warwick then left New Model Army and formed The Almighty in 1988 with guitarist Andy 'Tantrum' McCafferty and Ricky Warwick's former school-friends, drummer Stump Monroe and bass guitarist Floyd London.

Ricky Warwick was the lead vocalist and played guitar in various formats of the band.

That same year, Ricky Warwick performed with The Stiff Little Fingers at a gig at the Barrowlands in Glasgow.

In 1996, disillusioned with the direction The Almighty were taking Ricky Warwick moved to Dublin where he formed a new band called with Ciaran McGoldrick and Gary Sullivan.

Ricky Warwick has in the past toured the British Isles and throughout Europe supporting Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow and Mina Caputo.

Ricky Warwick will make his acting debut in an independent film written and directed by Bobby Field.

In September 2009, Ricky Warwick was invited to join the latest lineup of Thin Lizzy and joined them as lead vocalist and guitarist.

Ricky Warwick took part in Thin Lizzy's 2011 European tour commemorating 25 years since the death of original frontman Phil Lynott.

In 2014, Ricky Warwick recorded a second album with the Black Star Riders.

Alongside his touring commitments with Black Star Riders in 2015, Ricky Warwick toured the UK with his bandmate Damon Johnson, performing acoustic sets of Thin Lizzy and Black Star Riders songs, plus various covers and selections of Almighty and solo material.

Ricky Warwick recorded an album of covers titled Stairwell Troubadour, again through PledgeMusic.

In February 2014, Ricky Warwick launched a campaign through PledgeMusic to launch two albums later in the year, one comprising acoustic songs with the other being a hard rock record.

Ricky Warwick assembled a band named The Fighting Hearts to tour behind the album, featuring Gary Sullivan on drums, Black Star Riders bassist Robbie Crane, and ex-Mission guitarist Mark Gemini Thwaite.

Ricky Warwick headlined the very first WinterStorm festival in Troon in 2016.

In 2022, Ricky Warwick reactivated The Fighting Hearts for a month-long tour of the UK and Ireland in March.

Ricky Warwick met Vanessa Young, presenter of MTV show Headbangers Ball, in 1990, during his time with The Almighty.

Ricky Warwick is married to Christina, and lives in the US.

Ricky Warwick is friends with singer Joe Elliott, having performed backing vocals on Def Leppard albums, whilst Elliott has returned the favour recording on and producing Ricky Warwick's solo albums.

Ricky Warwick was Elliott's Best man at his wedding in 2004.

Ricky Warwick is a fan of Northern Ireland football club Glentoran, and in 2010 he released a three track DVD in aid of the Spirit of 41 campaign to save Glentoran from extinction.

Ricky Warwick wore a specially commissioned one-off Glentoran football strip for the show.