1960s While at school in
Middlesbrough and attending private guitar lessons, Moody formed The Roadrunners with others from the area including
Paul Rodgers (later of
Free and
Bad Company). They were subsequently joined by bass player
Bruce Thomas, later to play with
Elvis Costello and the Attractions. The band performed covers in local halls and clubs. By 1967 they had developed and outgrown the local music scene and turned professional, changing their name to The Wildflowers and subsequently moving to London. They had some success and undertook some touring, but relationships within the band frayed and they eventually split without making any recordings. Moody returned home to Middlesbrough where for a while he widened his musical horizons by taking classical guitar lessons. He also became increasingly interested in slide guitar techniques (a style with which he would later be closely associated). While living in Middlesbrough he was asked by local singer and entrepreneur John McCoy to form a group, which became Tramline. A deal for two albums was signed with
Island Records, but by the time the second album was released the band had broken up. Moody joined Lucas and the professional soul band Mike Cotton Sound, who became
Gene Pitney's backing band for UK tours as well as others such as
Paul Jones.
1970s In 1970 he joined recently repatriated keyboard player
Zoot Money as guitarist. He then replaced
Neil Hubbard in
Juicy Lucy, with whom he recorded three albums and toured extensively before the group disbanded. After the band split, Moody co-founded
Snafu which combined his funk-rock guitar style with U.S down-home stateside grooves. The band recorded three albums,
SNAFU,
Situation Normal and
All Funked Up. They also appeared on a 1974
Sounds of the 70s session, a 1974 edition of
The Old Grey Whistle Test presented by
Bob Harris, a 1975 (recorded 28 August, broadcast 4 September)
John Peel radio session, and the TV series
Supersonic. Extensive touring followed before the band broke up. At this time Moody undertook occasional work as a session player, most notably for
Graham Bonnet. He also contributed to one track on
Gerry Rafferty's
City to City. He performed with the former
Status Quo drummer
John Coghlan's Diesel Band, then recorded an album with the band's tour manager and lyricist
Bob Young which became
Young & Moody, this collaboration also resulted in a single featuring, amongst others,
Lemmy from
Motörhead and the
Nolan Sisters on backing vocals . He then toured with Frankie Miller and stood in as a guest with Hinkley's Heroes, before joining his friend
David Coverdale. Moody knew Coverdale – who had fronted
Deep Purple and was looking to undertake a solo venture – from the Middlesbrough music scene in the late sixties. Coverdale invited Moody to work with him, and the album
White Snake was released in 1977. Moody shared writing credits on four songs, including the title track. A second album
Northwinds followed in 1978, on which Moody contributed to three songs. Following the demise of Deep Purple MkIV, Coverdale and Moody joined forces with
Bernie Marsden,
Neil Murray,
Dave 'Duck' Dowle and keyboardist Brian Johnston to form a band that took its name
Whitesnake from the title of Coverdale's first solo album. In 1978 they recorded the EP
Snakebite, followed by two studio albums,
Trouble (1978) and
Lovehunter (1979), recorded by a modified lineup with
Jon Lord on keyboards. Moody is credited with co-writing four of the tracks on
Trouble, and was sole writer of "Belgian Tom's Hat Trick", an instrumental. While working with Whitesnake he also played slide guitar on Roger Chapman's debut solo album
Chappo.
1980s (left) performing with Whitesnake at
Hammersmith Odeon in 1981 Moody contributed
slide guitar to three tracks on former
Lindisfarne member
Ray Jackson's solo debut
In the Night, which was released in 1980. By this point Whitesnake now featured
Ian Paice from Deep Purple on drums, who had been brought into the group to replace Dowle. In 1980 this line up released the album ''
Ready an' Willing, from which two UK singles were taken, Fool for Your Loving and the album title track, both co-written by Moody. The band also released the double album Live...in the Heart of the City'' in the same year. At his time he recorded two singles with Bob Young, with all tracks written by Moody. In 1981, Graham Bonnet's
Line-Up featured Moody playing guitar on all tracks and three songs written by Moody with Bob Young. Moody maintained a busy schedule with Whitesnake, who released the album ''
Come an' Get It'' in the same year. Relationships within the band were beginning to sour, and Moody's guitar partner Bernie Marsden left prior to the final completion of the next album
Saints and Sinners. Moody himself followed soon afterward. Whitesnake took time out for much of 1982 and Moody undertook some session work, with
Sheena Easton and others. By late 1982 Whitesnake was reformed with
Mel Galley replacing Marsden and Moody joining Galley on the album's backing vocal sessions. In 1983 Coverdale replaced Ian Paice and Neil Murray with
Cozy Powell and
Colin Hodgkinson. Moody was unhappy with the direction the new band was taking and felt increasingly sidelined by Coverdale. Despite this deteriorating situation, he recorded
Slide It In – a process he described as an "unhappy experience" – but then left the band in 1983. Moody reunited on a more permanent basis with Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden, to tour and record as the Moody Marsden Band in the UK and Europe. They issued two live albums,
Never Turn Our Back on the Blues and
Live in Hell and a studio set,
Real Faith. In 1996, Moody toured the US as part of the
Best of British Blues tour, also featuring
Eric Burdon,
Alvin Lee,
Aynsley Dunbar,
Boz Burrell and
Tim Hinkley. The following year, Moody and Marsden teamed up with Norwegian rockers
Jørn Lande, Willy Bendickson and Sid Ringsby to form
The Snakes, a band that specialised in reproducing the sounds of the original Whitesnake.
Don Airey would often be brought in to augment them on keyboards. The band recorded two albums,
Once Bitten and
Live in Europe before making way for
The Company of Snakes, which featured former
Bad Company vocalist
Robert Hart, original Whitesnake bass player
Neil Murray and ex-
Manfred Mann's Earth Band drummer John Lingwood. Hart was eventually replaced by ex-Snakes in Paradise frontman Stefan Berggren, and the band released two albums,
Burst the Bubble and a live set
Here They Go Again.
2000s In 2000, Moody wrote and produced library music prior to the release of his first official solo album,
I Eat Them For Breakfast. Continuing to perform with Company of Snakes and take on occasional session work, Moody joined his former
Juicy Lucy bandmate
Paul Williams to arrange and record a selection of acoustic classic Chicago blues tracks for the album
Smokestacks, Broomdusters and Hoochie Coochie Men. He also played occasional duo gigs with bluesman Papa George. 'Snake' metamorphosed into
M3 Classic Whitesnake and also released a live CD (featuring former
Black Sabbath singer
Tony Martin) and a live DVD with the former
The Company Of Snakes singer Stefan Berggren back, and with the special guest appearance from former
Ritchie Blackmore and
Yngwie Malmsteen frontman
Doogie White. The DVD also featured sessionman
Jimmy Copley (who worked with bands such as
Go West and
Tears for Fears) on drums and
Mark Stanway from
Magnum on keyboards. Around this time Moody played on
Nah Aufnahme by German musician
Westernhagen, which eventually appeared in the national charts. 2006 saw the release of Moody's self-produced solo album ''Don't Blame Me
, released at the same time as his memoirs Playing with Trumpets – A Rock 'n' Roll Apprenticeship
. M3 broke up later that year, after which Moody performed more shows with Roger Chapman plus selected dates with a line-up of the Micky Moody Band that featured his eldest son Micky Moody Jr. on drums. In 2008, he toured Japan as special guest of Jimmy Copley and Japanese guitarist Char. Also featured was ex-Herbie Hancock bassist Paul Jackson and keyboard player Yoshinobu Kojima. The shows were recorded and released on DVD as Jimmy Copley & Char: Special Session
. To celebrate his love of instrumental music, Moody wrote and produced the albums Acoustic Journeyman
(2007) and Electric Journeyman'' (2009).
2010s In 2011, Moody co-wrote library music for both Warner/Chapell and Universal before co-forming Snakecharmer, a group that also included former Whitesnake colleague
Neil Murray, former
Wishbone Ash guitarist
Laurie Wisefield, singer Chris Ousey (Heartland), drummer
Gary James (Thunder, Magnum) and Ozzy's keyboardist
Adam Wakeman. In 2015, Moody left Snakecharmer in order to pursue his solo career. In recent years, Moody also made regular appearances alongside blues guitarist Papa George and has been an active member of the "Sunflower Jam" house band and the Bad Apples.. In 2016 he and Ali Maas Moody released their first album together. They also played live regularly with their Ali Maas and Micky Moody Band.
2020s In 2020, Micky and Ali Maas Moody released their second co-written album and continued to work together. ==Discography==