PHIL LYNOTT’S STATUE

On this date in 2005, a life-size bronze statue designed by Paul Daly of Phil Lynott was unveiled on Harry Street in Dublin. The ceremony was attended by his former Thin Lizzy band members Gary Moore, Brian Robertson, and Scott Gorham.

Lynott, Thin Lizzy’s de facto leader, was composer or co-composer of almost all of the band’s songs, and the first black Irishman to achieve commercial success in the field of rock music. As well as being multiracial, Thin Lizzy drew their early members not only from both sides of the Irish border but also from both the Catholic and Protestant communities during the ethno-nationalist conflict The Troubles.

Rolling Stone magazine describes the band as distinctly hard rock “far apart from the braying mid-70s metal pack.” AllMusic has written that “As the band’s creative force, Lynott was a more insightful and intelligent writer than many of his ilk, preferring slice-of-life working class dramas of love and hate influenced by Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and virtually all of the Irish literary tradition.

In the 1980s, Lynott increasingly suffered drug-related problems, particularly an addiction to heroin. In 1985, he had a final chart success with Gary Moore, “Out in the Fields”, followed by the minor hit “Nineteen”, before his death in 1986.

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Featured image by Fin Costello/Redferns