Philip Parris Lynott was born on the 20th of August in 1949. Son of Philomena (his mother from Dublin) and Cecil Parris (his father from British Guiana). They were not married and his mother already had 2 children placed for adoption. His father left after a few months already and he didn't raise up Phil. In his childhood in Manchester he faced racism. He was of a mixed race and his mother decided to sent him to live with his grandparents in Dublin. Finally he had a father figure for the first time in his life and he could grow up without racism. His mother stayed close to her son and with her new partner she took over the management of the Clifton Grange Hotel in Whalley Range. The hotel nicknamed "The Biz" became popular with the show business and was later referred to by Phil's band Thin Lizzy.

Thin Lizzy with Downey and Moore

Phil became influenced by the Motown label and The Mamas & the Papas. His first band where he did lead vocals was the Black Eagles in 1965 and they played covers in local clubs around Dublin. His second band was Kama Sutru. The third: Skid Row. Skid Row signed a dealwith Ted Carrol who would become the manager of Thin Lizzy. Guitarist Gary Moore would later also join the band for a short while. Then a fourth band was formed together with Brian Downey called Orphanage. Phil started to learn to play bass guitar. After replacing the guitarist with Eric Bell and adding Eric Wrixon who introduced them to Eric they were now a four-piece band. Wrixon was a founding member of Them (including Van Morrison) and took over bass guitar, because Phil was still learning to play bass. The name of the band was soon changed to Thin Lizzy. The name came from a character "Thin Lizzie" in the comic The Dandy. The H was added to mimic the way the word thin is pronounced in a Dublin accent. The first hit of the band was a rock version of "Whiskey In The Jar" (originally from Jim Fitzpatrick). Follow-up singles failed to chart and Eric Bell was replaced by Gary Moore as a guitarist. The band almost decided to quit until "The Boys Are Back In Town" in 1976 became a worldwide hit including the album "Jailbreak". Lynott became friends with Huey Lewis who was a support act during the live tour. The band managed to score some more successful albums.

Jeff Wayne's War Of The World (original album cover)

In 1978 Lynott started to work on solo projects. He was involved with Jeff Wayne's musical "The War Of The World". Singing and speaking the role of Parson Nathaniel on "The Spirit Of Man". He did sessions with other artists including Bob Geldof on Blast Furnace and the Heatwaves "Blue Wave" EP. He then tried as a punk band called The Greedies including members of the Sex Pistols and Thin Lizzy only performing live and releasing a christmas single "A Merry Jingle". He became friends with Midge Ure (later in Visage and Ultravox) who played in the band Rich Kids including Glen Matlock from the Sex Pistols and Rusty Egan (later in Visage). He married Caroline Crowther, a daughter of British comedian Leslie Crowther on the 14th of February 1980. He already had a daughter of her called Sarah of whom he had written a song released by Thin Lizzy. 

King's Call (original single cover)

In 1980 Lynott released his first solo album titled "Solo in Soho" including the hit singles "Dear Miss Lonelyhearts" and "King's Call" (A tribute to Elvis Presley including Mark Knopfler on guitar). His second solo album titled "The Philip Lynott Album" was a flop in the charts but included his worldwide hit "Old Town". It also included a song for his second daughter Cathleen. Another hit single was scored with "Yellow Pearl" reaching #14 in the UK.

Original single cover

In 1983 Thin Lizzy was disbanded and he made a rock'n'roll single "We Are The Boys (Who Make All The Noise)" together with Roy Wood, Chas Hodges and John Coghlan. He also released two singles with Gary Moore titled "Parisienne Walkway" (#8 in the UK) and "Out In The Fields" (#5 in the UK). He formed another band called Grand Slam with Doish Nagle, Laurence Archer, Robbie Brennan and Mark Stanway but split up afther touring due to lack of money and Lynott's addiction to heroin. He also recorded a few songs with British R&B artist Junion Giscombe which were never released. Then he became upset when he was not asked to join Live Aid organised by his two friends Geldof and Ure. Lynott appeared on TV in BBC's Pop Quiz as team captain against Alvin Stardust.

Statue in Dublin

His last single was "Nineteen" co-written by Laurence Archer and Mark Stanway and produced by Paul Hardcastle. It was released a few weeks before his death. The song has nothing to do with the producers own hit single some months earlier called "19" based on the Vietnam war. Lynott heavily promoted this single in interviews and on TV. Lynott's drug usage led to his death in 1986 while he was suffering from pneumonia and septicaemia (blood poisoning).

Yellow Pearl - original single cover

"Old Town" was later covered by the Irish band The Corrs for MTV's Unplugged and became an ever bigger hit when Phil released it as a single.

original album cover

Solo In Soho (1980)
Dear Miss Lonely Hearts / King's Call / A Child's Lullaby / Tattoo (Giving It All Up for Love) / Solo in Soho / Girls / Yellow Pearl / Ode to a Black Man / Jamaican Rum / Talk in 79

original album cover

The Philip Lynott Album (1982)
Fatalistic Attitude / The Man's a Fool / Old Town / Cathleen / Growing Up / Yellow Pearl / Together / Little Bit of Water / Ode to Liberty (The Protest Song) / Gino / Don't Talk About Me Baby


Whiskey In the Jar (Thin Lizzy)
The Boys Are Back In Town (Thin Lizzy)
King's Call

Old Town

Out In The Fields (with Gary Moore)