Keith Charles Flint (17 September 1969 – 4 March 2019) was an English
singer
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...
and member as well as one of the vocalists of the
electronic dance act
The Prodigy. Starting out as a dancer, he became the vocalist of the group and performed on the group's two UK number-one singles, "
Firestarter" and "
Breathe", both released in 1996. He was also the lead singer of his own band,
Flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...
.
He owned a motorcycle racing team,
Team Traction Control, which won four
Isle of Man TT
The Isle of Man TT or Tourist Trophy races are an annual motorcycle racing event run on the Isle of Man in May/June of most years since its inaugural race in 1907 Isle of Man TT, 1907. The event is often called one of the most dangerous racing ...
races in 2015 and 2016, and competed in the
British Superbike Championship.
Early life
Flint was born in
Redbridge, London, to Clive and Yvonne Flint, on 17 September 1969. Clive Flint worked as an
engineering consultant.
Keith Flint was initially raised in
East London
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...
, but in the mid-1970s his parents moved out to a quiet
suburban
cul-de-sac
A dead end, also known as a cul-de-sac (, from French for 'bag-bottom'), no through road or no exit road, is a street with only one inlet or outlet.
The term "dead end" is understood in all varieties of English, but the official terminology ...
in
Springfield, in
Chelmsford
Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of Lond ...
,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
. His childhood was described as unhappy, and he
feuded with his parents, who parted when he was young.
He attended the
Boswells School
The Boswells School is an age 11–18, secondary school and college, The Boswells College, with academy status situated in the city of Chelmsford, Essex, England, offers secondary age education with qualifications up to General Certificates of ...
in
Chelmsford
Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of Lond ...
and moved to
Braintree after leaving school. Flint was described as being a "bright boy with
dyslexia
Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...
" and was disruptive in class. He was expelled from school at the age of 15. Flint then worked as a
roofer and later enthusiastically embraced the
acid house
Acid house (also simply known as just "acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthes ...
scene of the late 1980s.
Musically, Flint was a childhood fan of
The Jam
The Jam were an English mod revival/ punk rock band formed in 1972 at Sheerwater Secondary School in Woking, Surrey. They released 18 consecutive Top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in December ...
,
and in the late 1980s he listened to bands like
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. They have been widely influential, both over their contemporaries and with later acts. Q (maga ...
.
Music career

Flint met
DJ Liam Howlett
Liam Paul Paris Howlett (born 21 August 1971) is an English record producer, musician, songwriter, co-founder and leader of the British electronic band The Prodigy, and an occasional DJ.
Early years
Howlett was born in Braintree, Essex, E ...
at local
rave club the Barn in
Braintree, Essex
Braintree is a town and former civil parish in Essex, England. The principal settlement of Braintree District, it is located northeast of Chelmsford and west of Colchester. According to the 2011 Census, the town had a population of 41,634, ...
, and said he liked Howlett's taste in music. After receiving a
mixtape from Howlett, Flint came back with great
enthusiasm
In modern usage, enthusiasm refers to intense enjoyment, interest, or approval expressed by a person. The term is related to playfulness, inventiveness, optimism and high energy. The word was originally used to refer to a person possessed by ...
, insisting that Howlett should be playing his tracks up on stage and that Flint, along with friend
Leeroy Thornhill, would dance to them. Flint, Howlett, and Thornhill were joined by
MC Maxim Reality and became the successful electronic dance act
The Prodigy.
In 1996, just prior to the release of The Prodigy's
third album, Flint moved from being a dancer for the group to being its frontman when he performed vocals on the hit single "
Firestarter"; the accompanying video showcased Flint's new and soon-to-be
iconic punk look.
[Roberts, David (2006). ]British Hit Singles & Albums
''British Hit Singles & Albums'' (originally known as ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles'' and ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums'') was a music reference book originally published in the United Kingdom by the publishing arm of t ...
. London: Guinness World Records Limited. This trend continued with the next Prodigy single, "
Breathe", on which Flint sang lead vocals, with
Maxim backing him up.
The 1997 album ''
The Fat of the Land
''The Fat of the Land'' is the third studio album by English electronic music group the Prodigy, released on 30 June 1997 through XL Recordings. The album received critical acclaim and topped the UK Albums Chart and the US ''Billboard'' 200. ...
'' also featured Flint's vocal contributions on the tracks "Serial Thrilla" and "Fuel My Fire". In 2002, the non-album single "
Baby's Got a Temper" was released, which was written by Flint.
Flint did not perform vocals on the next Prodigy album—''
Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned'' (2004)—but reappeared on the "Hotride (El Batori Mix)", included on the "
Hotride" single.
The Prodigy album ''
Invaders Must Die'' was released on 23 February 2009 and featured vocals by Flint on multiple tracks. Flint released a single titled "War" with
dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...
artist
Caspa in 2012.
Flint experimented with solo projects, including his
punk rock band
Flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...
, which included remixes by Steven "Stitch" Held at The Recovery Room and Clever Brains Fryin'. Flint's debut album, ''Device #1'', was cancelled before its release, leaving "Aim4" as their only single to be commercially released.
Motorcycle racing
Flint was a keen
motorcyclist
Motorcycling is the act of riding a motorcycle. For some people, motorcycling may be the only affordable form of individual motorized transportation, and small-displacement motorcycles are the most common motor vehicle in the most populous co ...
. He rode 2,400 km (1,500 miles) from England to southern
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
to attend the
2007 Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix and also
raced in club competitions. He rode with
Lee Thompson of the band
Madness
Madness or The Madness may refer to:
Emotion and mental health
* Anger, an intense emotional response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat
* Insanity, a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns
* ...
. He had his own motorcycle team, Team Traction Control, which competed in the
British Supersport Championship as part of the
British Superbike Championship before stepping up to the
British Superbike Championship in 2017. In 2015, Team Traction Control machines won two
Isle of Man TT
The Isle of Man TT or Tourist Trophy races are an annual motorcycle racing event run on the Isle of Man in May/June of most years since its inaugural race in 1907 Isle of Man TT, 1907. The event is often called one of the most dangerous racing ...
races, ridden by
Ian Hutchinson. The team and Ian Hutchinson repeated their two victories again in 2016.
Personal life
Flint dated television presenter
Gail Porter; the couple split in 2001.
In 2006, Flint married Mayumi Kai, a Japanese DJ.
The couple were separated at the time of Flint's death.
Flint had a
tattoo
A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing proc ...
across his stomach of the word "Inflicted", a reference to a lyric in "Firestarter".
Flint was difficult on transatlantic flights; on one occasion he had to be restrained from kicking down the door to the cockpit.
Prior to his marriage, Flint suffered from depression and an addiction to prescription painkillers.
Flint kept fit by
boxing
Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...
and practicing
Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting ( ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...
.
In 2014, he bought and renovated the Leather Bottle pub in
Pleshey, Essex, and became a popular landlord. Flint kept a
jar in which customers were required to put a pound if they made a "Firestarter" joke as he lit the pub's fire.
He ended his connection with the pub without explanation in 2017.
Flint lived in a
listed Tudor
manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals with ...
near
Dunmow, Essex.
He had a small
flat track in his back garden, where he rode some of his motorcycles. Flint was a lover of animals and was an enthusiastic
twitcher;
he built a pond in his garden to attract birds and kept several dogs and horses at his home.
Death
On 4 March 2019, just after 8:10 am,
Essex Police
Essex Police is a territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Essex, in the East of England. Essex Police is responsible for a population of over 1.8 million people and an area of .
The chief constable is Ben-Julian Harri ...
were called to Flint's home in
North End, near
Great Dunmow, Essex, in response to concerns for his welfare.
Flint was pronounced dead at the scene, aged 49. The police did not treat the death as suspicious. It was later confirmed at an inquest into his death he had died as a result of hanging. The coroner adjourned the inquest until 23 July for a full hearing.
Later that day, bandmate Liam Howlett stated in an Instagram post that Flint's death was a
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...
.
The official band website then went black with an announcement of his death, and the Prodigy cancelled all forthcoming shows.
Flint's funeral was held on 29 March 2019.
There was a 1.5-mile public procession, attended by fans from around the world, followed by a private ceremony at St Mary's Church
Bocking, near Braintree in Mid-Essex, attended by family and friends,
including Flint's wife, Mayumi Kai, and bandmates Liam Howlett, Maxim, and Leeroy Thornhill.
It was established by the coroner's inquest on 8 May 2019 that there was insufficient evidence to conclude a suicide verdict in relation to Flint's death.
Legacy
After Flint's death, fans used the hashtag "#Firestarter4Number1" on social media in a campaign to try to get the song "
Firestarter" to Number 1 in the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
as a mark of respect for Flint and to raise awareness for
male
Male (Mars symbol, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization.
A male organism cannot sexual reproduction, repro ...
suicide in the UK.
Following his death, many musical artists and music industry figures from around the world paid tribute to Flint.
Many tributes highlighted Flint's gentle temperament, illustrating a personal kindness, politeness and generosity that contrasted with his energetic and sometimes aggressive stage persona.
Fellow British musician and
Jamiroquai
Jamiroquai () are an English funk and acid jazz band from London. Formed in 1992, they are fronted by vocalist Jay Kay, and were prominent in the London-based funk and acid jazz movement of the 1990s. They built on their acid jazz sound in t ...
frontman
Jay Kay said, "What bloody tragic news. What a top fella and a great laugh. I hope they've got a quick bike for him up there.. cos he fucking sure knew how to ride one. Keith Flint... always 'balls to the wall'."
In June 2019, fashion designer
Donatella Versace
Donatella Francesca Versace (; born 2 May 1955) is an Italian fashion designer, businesswoman, socialite, and model. She is the sister of Gianni Versace, founder of the luxury fashion company Versace, with whom she worked closely on the devel ...
dedicated her spring/summer 2020 menswear show in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4  ...
to Flint's memory.
Versace, who was a friend of Flint's, dressed male models in clothing reflecting his style and they sported Flint's distinctive "Firestarter" hairstyle.
Whilst performing at Glastonbury Festival in June 2019,
Liam Gallagher
William John Paul Gallagher (born 21 September 1972) is an English singer and songwriter. He achieved fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis from 1991 to 2009, and later fronted the rock band Beady Eye from 2009 to 2014, before start ...
dedicated "
Champagne Supernova" to Flint.
In the 2020 video game ''
Assassin's Creed Valhalla
''Assassin's Creed Valhalla'' is a 2020 action role-playing video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the twelfth major installment in the '' Assassin's Creed'' series, and the successor to 2018's '' Assassin's ...
'', a bard named Keith whose appearance resembles Flint's can be found in
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
, England, as part of a
sidequest titled "The Prodigy". There, the "Bishop of the Ruins" is denouncing his music as unholy. The character says the presence of the player character, Eivor, is "surely an omen", referencing
the Prodigy's song of the same name; when the protesting clergyman starts a fistfight with Eivor, Keith encourages the character to "
Smack my Bishop". Kristen McGorry, a writer on the game, confirmed on Twitter that these and other references were intentional tributes to Flint and the band.
On 5 August 2021, a
Crowdfunder campaign was launched by
music
Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...
and
mental wellbeing festival "Headstock" to commission
street artist
A street artist is a person who makes art in public places. Street artists include portrait artists, caricaturists, graffiti artists, muralists and people making crafts. Street artists can also refer to street performers such as musicians, acrob ...
Akse P19 to paint a mural of Flint. The mural, which was unveiled on 9 September 2021, a day ahead of
World Suicide Prevention Day, is located at Beechwood Road in Hackney, near to where The Prodigy played their first gig at the Four Aces Club in 1990.
Discography
With the Prodigy
* ''
Experience
Experience refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these conscious processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience invol ...
'' (1992)
(Only performed as a dancer during a live track)
* ''
Music for the Jilted Generation'' (1994)
(Credited as band member; does not perform)
* ''
The Fat of the Land
''The Fat of the Land'' is the third studio album by English electronic music group the Prodigy, released on 30 June 1997 through XL Recordings. The album received critical acclaim and topped the UK Albums Chart and the US ''Billboard'' 200. ...
'' (1997)
* ''
Their Law: The Singles 1990–2005'' (2005)
* ''
Invaders Must Die'' (2009)
* ''
World's on Fire'' (2011)
* ''
The Day Is My Enemy'' (2015)
* ''
No Tourists'' (2018)
With Flint
*''
Device #1'' (2003)
(Only released in promo form)
References
Other sources
*
*
External links
*
*
Keith Flint: Stars and fans recall the Firestarter's soft side BBC News. Published 5 March 2019.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flint, Keith
1969 births
2019 deaths
20th-century English singers
21st-century English singers
Big beat musicians
Breakbeat hardcore musicians
British techno musicians
English electronic musicians
English male dancers
English male singers
English motorcycle racers
English people of German-Jewish descent
English punk rock musicians
Hardcore techno musicians
Kerrang! Awards winners
People from Braintree, Essex
People from Great Dunmow
People from Ilford
People from the City of Chelmsford
Singers from Essex
Singers from London
The Prodigy members
Deaths by hanging