Remembering Keith Flint

It was on this day 5 years ago Keith Flint – originally a dancer for the group The Prodigy before becoming its lead singer, sadly passed away aged just 49.

Originally formed in 1990, The Prodigy were one of the biggest names from the electronic dance scene to help bring the genre into mainstream radio. Their 1991 debut single “Charly” reached #3 in the UK charts. It sampled the cartoon “Charley Says” and inspired similar styles of tracks from other groups, such as “A Trip To Trumpton” by Urban Hype and “Sesame’s Treet” by Smart E’s.

They came close to a chart-topper in 1991 – their second single “Everybody In The Place” reached #2 in December of that year, only held off the top by Queen‘s “Bohemian Rhapsody” following the passing of their front man Freddie Mercury.

A number of further Top 40 hits came over the following years, but 1996 was the year for The Prodigy. The first single by the group with a proper lead vocal, “Firestarter”, became their first UK #1 single which spent three weeks at the top. Along with the vocals from Flint, the iconic black and white music video and dancing completed what became one of the most recognisable hits of the 1990s and is one of only 180 singles in UK chart history (as of writing) to have sold over one million copies.

They weren’t done there, however. In November, they followed up with “Breathe” – which would go on to be their second and most recent chart-topper. This saw the group achieve a further two weeks at the top, again with Keith Flint’s unique vocals screaming “come play my game” and “exhale, exhale”!

More chart success would come still, even up to 2009 with their most recent top 10 single “Warrior’s Dance” – showing that even nearly 20 years after their debut they were still able to release massively influential dance tracks (this one would also be sampled for a 2015 track “Take Me Away” by DJ SKT who reached #19 in the UK charts).

Founder Liam Howlett along with Maxim are still touring to this day as The Prodigy, but we’re sure it’s still not quite the same as when Keith Flint was able to provide the vocals live.

If you’re a fan of The Prodigy, check out our exclusive designs for Keith Flint here!

Ashley