The Rocker: A Portrait of Phil Lynott explains why this great man was such a charismatic and inspirational figure, with a history of all his bands, and various clips from early home movies, along with excellent interview clips, this is a fitting tribute to Ireland’s greatest Rocker.īonus: Thin Lizzy Live Berlin September 19th, 1973. It was the kind of good luck born from years of hard work that would bring Thin Lizzy massive popular success. When Phil took time out to have his tonsils removed, he was replaced as lead singer it was only then that Lynott went on to form Thin Lizzy with Brian Downey and Eric Bell.įortune smiled on Phil, as when sailing from Dublin to England, he met John Peel on board the ship and told him about Thin Lizzy. He then moved onto Skid Row (which later featured guitarist Gary Moore). Phil first came to prominence as the good-looking singer with the Black Eagles. He gave it up for his main passion-music. It was a dead end job, not a future for an ambitious talent like Lynott. Instead he was offered a job as an apprentice fitter and turner. His mother was an Irish woman, Philomena Lynott, and his father. Lynott originally wanted to be an architect, but poor, working class lads from housing schemes aren’t allowed to be architects. Phil Lynott was born Philip Parris Lynott in West Bromwich, England on the 20th of August 1949. He was also an inspiration: born and raise in difficult times, a black man in predominantly white Dublin, raised by his grandmother while his mother worked three jobs in England to support the family back home. At his best, his music was simple, working class rock and roll. Lynott was all about a good time, it’s there in his music and in the way he lived his life. It was a sad end to a man who had entertained and inspired millions. He was suffering from a serious liver and kidney infection and died eleven days later from heart-failure and pneumonia.
Lynott had collapsed at his home after a drink and drug binge on Christmas Day. Thin Lizzy frontman, Phil Lynott died today, 4th of January in 1986.