Our Dancer, our Vocalist. Our crazy friend Keith Flint turns 44 today! And he’s still banging it like it’s 1990!
On behalf of Team Fanboy and the Fanboy Community, Happy Birthday mate. Have a great day and don’t party too hard ;)
Flint was born and raised in the Essex town of Braintree. and went to Alec Hunter Humanities College which his bandmate Liam Howlett also attended. Although they went to the same school Liam and Keith were in different years and did not meet until leaving school.
In the late 1980s he met DJ Liam Howlett in a rave club and expressed his appreciation of Howlett’s taste in music. After receiving a mixtape from Liam Howlett, Keith came back to Liam with great enthusiasm, insisting that Liam should be playing his tracks up on stage, and that Keith himself and his friend Leeroy Thornhill would dance to them.
Originally Flint was the band’s dancer, but in 1996 he featured as the vocalist on the hit single “Firestarter”. The accompanying video showcased Flint’s new, punk look. This trend continued with the next Prodigy single “Breathe”, on which Flint performed the backing vocals, whilst Maxim performed lead. The 1997 album The Fat of the Land featured Flint’s vocal contributions to several tracks namely Breathe, Serial Thrilla, Fuel My Fire and Firestarter. The album’s success, becoming the most successful dance album of all time, forced Flint into the media spotlight. In 2002 the single “Baby’s Got a Temper” was released. At the time Flint and Howlett were having disagreements. On the next Prodigy album, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned (2004), Flint did not perform any vocals, although he did appear on the” Hotride – El Batori Mix,” on the “Hotride” single.
The latest Prodigy album, Invaders Must Die, was released on 23 February 2009 and features vocals by Flint on multiple tracks, including; Take Me to the Hospital, Run with the Wolves and Colours.
Flint has experimented with several solo/side projects, including the bands Flint and Clever Brains Fryin’. Only one single, Aim4 by FLINT, was released commercially, with FLINT’s debut album “Device #1? being cancelled before release. A very rare promotional copy of “Device #1? can be found, however it does not contain all the tracks which were originally meant to appear on the final release. Songs in this album include: 01- Asteroids, 02- Piggy, 03- Laughs, 04- Aim, 05- Kamikaze,06- Prescription,07- Ju Lu, 08- Femmefatale, 09- Vacation, 10- Razor.
Flint dated TV presenter Gail Porter before her marriage to Toploader guitarist Dan Hipgrave, moving in together in a house in Essex. They were known as ‘Beauty and the Beast’ due to Gail’s innocent beauty and Keith’s hair-raising style. The couple split in 2000, because it was too far away for Gail to commute on a daily basis for her work in the city and their relationship wasn’t working out. He is married to Japanese DJ Mayumi Kai.
During the late 1990s, when The Prodigy were at their commercial peak, Flint became known in the UK press for his extensive body piercing and tattooing. In an interview, he stated that his most painful tattoo was the text “Inflicted” across his stomach. He stated that it felt like he was on an altar being ritualistically scarred by a satanic beast. The tattoo was designed by fellow bandmate Liam Howlett. Included in this interview, believed to have originated in the now defunct British music magazine Select, where he expressed desire to have his penis pierced.[citation needed]
Flint is a keen motorcyclist. He also speaks fluent Bengali. He rode the 1500 miles from Britain to Southern Spain to attend the 2007 Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix, and also races in club competitions.