After a year of selling out concert halls around the globe Thin Lizzy once again returned to the studio. Now as an established member of the band, Darren was about to embark on his second Thin Lizzy album Renegade. After co-writing Angel of Death with Philip Lynott, Wharton's talent for song writing began to emerge. Several world tours later, Darren went on to co-write The Sun Goes Down, This Is The One, Heart Attack and Someday She's Gonna Hit Back on the legendary Thin Lizzy album Thunder and Lightning.
After four great years of playing alongside Phil Lynott, Scott Gorham, Brian Downey and Whitesnake's John Sykes, the Thin Lizzy disbanded. Darren returned to Manchester where he began to write, sing, and produce his own songs. After recruiting young guitarist, Vinny Burns, it wasn't long before Darren's new band DARE were getting noticed by the major labels in London and in 1987 Darren and DARE were signed by A&M records.
In 1988, DARE recorded their début album Out Of The Silence in Los Angeles at singer, Joni Mitchel's private studio in Beverly Hills. After this highly acclaimed first release, DARE's live performances soon earned them a cult following throughout Europe, opening for Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, Gary Moore, and Swedish rockers Europe. DARE toured extensively throughout Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Spain, Belgium, Italy, France, the UK, and Ireland.
Back in Los Angeles, DARE'S second album Blood from Stone was produced by renowned L.A. producer Keith Olsen (Whitesnake, The Scorpions' and had a much harder edge than the previous Out Of The Silence. When PolyGram bought A&M records in the UK, several changes forced Darren and Dare to walk away from their four-year deal.
Disillusioned and frustrated, Darren decided to move away from Manchester to North Wales. Settling in the Snowdonia National Park, Darren quickly set about building his own recording studio. Now working with new guitarist and friend Richard Dews, Darren was inspired by the haunting natural beauty of his new surroundings, and a new atmospheric Celtic feel started to emerge in the DARE sound. The first songs to come out of Wales were to become DARE'S third studio album Calm Before The Storm, it would also see Darren's in a new role - as producer. Calm Before The Storm was well received by Dare fans marked the welcome return of DARE, re-establishing the band throughout Europe and the UK. Dare were back!
Taking time out from writing, in 1994 ten years after the sad death of Phillip Lynott, Thin Lizzy's Scott Gorham, John Sykes, Darren Wharton, Brian Downey and Marco Mendoza reformed for a very successful tribute tour of America, Japan and Europe to honour their friend Phil Lynott. On January 4th they performed in Dublin, at the Point and were joined on stage with many Irish legends including U2's Bono, Bob Geldof, Joe Elliot, and Van Morrison.
Back in Wales, Darren composed new material for a new album Belief. This beautiful album set a new standard for DARE. "Like a mirror to the soul" and a doorway to the heart of this unique songwriter, the first single White Horses was playlisted by Terry Wogan on BBC Radio 2. Tours throughout Europe and Scandinavia followed, including a 12-date tour with Asia in the UK.
