Brian David Robertson (born 12 February 1956) is a Scottish rock guitarist,[1] best known as a former member of Thin Lizzy from 1974 to 1978, and Motörhead from 1982 to 1983, replacing Fast Eddie Clarke.

Robertson's pioneering, unconventional use of the wah-wah pedal as an extension of the instrument during soloing rather than as a purely rhythmic effect provided a boost to the band as well.

Robertson struggled to deal with Lizzy's newfound fame after the release of the hit single "The Boys Are Back in Town" and the accompanying Jailbreak LP.

[3] A further tour of the US was planned for December 1976, but it had to be cancelled when, on 23 November, Brian Robertson suffered a hand injury when trying to protect fellow Glaswegian, singer and friend Frankie Miller in a fracas at the Speakeasy Club in London.

Hunte attacked Miller with a bottle in the dressing room, and Robertson intervened, suffering artery and nerve damage to his hand.

While Robertson recuperated from his injury, Lizzy flew to Toronto in May 1977 to record the Bad Reputation album with American producer Tony Visconti, with Gorham ostensibly taking all of the guitar parts.

"[7] Robertson was fully reinstated for the remainder of 1977 and into 1978, during which the majority of the tapes for the band's well-known double LP Live and Dangerous were recorded.

In July 1978 Robertson finally left the band for good, due mainly to his irreconcilable differences with Lynott, and was again replaced by Gary Moore, this time on an official basis.

Soon after this, he joined long time friend (and fellow Scotsman) Frankie Miller and his band, which also consisted of Simon Kirke (drums) and Chrissie Stewart (bass).

In 2004 he also made a guest appearance with Ash at the Oxegen festival in Ireland, playing guitar on their version of Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back in Town".

He was reunited with Lizzy bandmates a final time in August 2005 for a tribute show in memory of Phil Lynott, in a lineup fronted by Gary Moore.

Robertson and Moore appeared with Brian Downey, Scott Gorham, Eric Bell and Jethro Tull bassist Jonathan Noyce.

His first solo album Diamonds and Dirt, featuring Ian Haugland of Europe, Nalle Pahlsson from Treat, Leif Sundin from MSG and Liny Wood, was recorded in Stockholm at Polar Studios over a two-year period.

They were introduced by Tommy Crossin of Rix's management team, who also worked for Lemmy and Motörhead, in 1985 at Donington festival and later started dating.

In the autumn of 1977, when he had the pickups on the Deluxe changed, he began using the Custom (photographs taken at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, from October of that year are among the earliest-known images of Robertson using the guitar[14]).

Indeed Brian was playing (or miming) the song "Rosalie" on a black 3-pick-up (black-white-black pick-ups sans covers) Gibson SG (possibly a "Custom", judging by the distinctive double-diamond head-stock inlay) on the popular BBC show Top Of the Pops (TOTP) in 1978.

Robertson's Facebook page[20] features more information on this instrument: purchased by Thin Lizzy's manager in 1973, the guitar has an unusually lightweight body as it was built by Les Paul himself for his then-wife, guitarist Mary Ford.