The Bloc-ROCK
RIP Keith
Last Monday the charismatic frontman of English band The Prodigy was found dead in his house. As a tribute, this blog is about him.
Keith Flint was born in 1969 in London. In the mid-70’s, he and his family moved to Essex where he spent what has been described as an unhappy childhood. At the age of 15, he had been expelled from school which eventually led him to fully embrace life as a musician in the mid-80’s.
In the late 80’s he met the DJ Liam Howlett at a rave. After speaking and exchanging ideas, they decided to create the foundations of The Prodigy. Howlett was to play and Flint to dance on stage.
But in 1996, Flint tried out the role of vocalist on the song “Firestarter” and it worked immediately. They decided to do it again and he became the lead vocal on “Breathe”. He went on to sing vocals on the 1997’s studio album The Fat of the Land and the album Invaders must die, released in 2009.
Flint was easily recognisable by his style, punky and loud. He was hectic, frenetic, never tired. Flint was always very fit and even ran two days before his death, at Cambridge park
But Flint had a lot of issues with drugs. Despite his problem, he was described as a lovely man, a very kind person. One of his old neighbours described how “he always said hello, was always very pleasant. He was lovely, I met him a couple of times, he was always friendly and polite.” In show business he was also described as a nice person. On Twitter you can find hundreds of messages by many artists testifying of his kindness. The singer James Blunt said “Keith […] in our business, there are no prizes for being kind, but if there was, that Gammy would be yours.” Ed Simons from the Chemical Brothers said that he was a great man and Jo Whiley wrote about him “Incredible iconic frontman with a soft centre.”.
The circumstances of his death are still a bit confused. But he will always be remembered for his firebrand stage presence and punky vocals.
