An unsentimental look at Ireland’s first rock star

Lynott loved to seduce but was afraid of intimacy

Phil Lynott: ‘a crooner seduced by high voltage and heavy wattage’ Pic: Getty

Biography: Cowboy Song: The Authorised Biography of Philip Lynott; By Graeme Thomson; Constable, €20

‘I’m black, I’m Irish and I’m a bastard – if I don’t make it as a singer I’m never going to make it.” We all know that Phil Lynott made it, not only as a singer, but also as one of rock music’s quintessential, classic legends, but the tragedy of his chosen career (and his life) was that the ...