The Prodigy’s Keith Flint dies aged 49

The singer was found dead at his home in Essex shortly after 8am this morning. An Essex police spokesperson said: "We were called to concerns for the welfare of a man at an address in Brook Hill, North End, just after 8.10am on Monday.

"We attended and, sadly, a 49-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. His next of kin have been informed.

"The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner."

Flint's Prodigy band mate of 30 years, Liam Howlett, also confirmed the news, writing: “The news is true , I can’t believe I’m saying this but our brother Keith took his own life over the weekend. 

“I’m shell shocked, f***in angry , confused and heartbroken ..... r.i.p brother"

> It is with deepest shock and sadness that we can confirm the death of our brother and best friend Keith Flint. A true pioneer, innovator and legend. He will be forever missed.
> We thank you for respecting the privacy of all concerned at this time. pic.twitter.com/nQ3Ictjj7t > > — The Prodigy (@the_prodigy) March 4, 2019

Born in Redbridge, London on 17th September 1969, Keith Flint was spent his early years in London before moving to Essex in the mid-seventies.

He met DJ Liam Howlett at fabled rave club The Barn in the late 1980s and immediately struck up a close friendship over their mutual love of dance music.  

Along with Leeroy Thornhill, he joined The Prodigy initially as a dancer alongside lynchpin Liam Howlett and MC Maxim Reality.

Bursting out of the rave scene, The Prodigy achieved instant success with their debut single ‘Charly’ in 1991 and subsequent album ‘Experience’.

Although he was intrinsic to The Prodigy’s live performances throughout the band’s embryonic years (and beyond), it wasn’t until the band unleashed ‘Firestarter’ in 1996 that Keith Flint achieved instant international fame/infamy.

Thanks to his spitting vocals and the legendary black-and-white video filmed on the disused London underground, when the track stormed to number one, the devil-horned Keith became a household name.

He performed on the follow-up single ‘Breathe’ in 1996 where he traded vocals with Maxim and the band once again hit the top spot in the UK.

Flint was central to The Prodigy’s third studio album, 'The Fat of the Land', which was an international smash selling 10million copies worldwide and hitting the top spot on both sides of the Atlantic.

A truly incredible live performer who whipped crowds into a frenzy, one of Keith’s biggest achievements with his Prodigy band mates was that he helped blur the boundaries between rock and dance music.

Nowhere was this more evident than when The Prodigy headlined Download Festival in 2012 and truly rocked the crowd.

Outside of music, Keith Flint was a keen motorbike racing aficionado and was a race team owner and manager with his Team Traction Control who won three Isle of Man TT races in 2015.

Contrasting to his devilish ‘Firestarter’ stage persona, Keith Flint was also widely known throughout the music industry for his extremely affable persona.

He was still performing with The Prodigy and had recently completed an Australian tour with a series of global tour dates lined up for the rest of 2019. The Prodigy played a UK tour last November.

> Devastated to hear the news about Keith Flint today. 🖤 RIP to the original Firestarter. Video from @the_prodigy's set at DL2012. https://t.co/lZ9qB261rG pic.twitter.com/3xyH1WJMJ1 > > — Download Festival (@DownloadFest) March 4, 2019

RIP Keith Flint.