{"id":502103,"date":"2026-02-27T02:20:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T02:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/502103\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T02:20:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T02:20:20","slug":"phil-lynott-remembered-by-thin-lizzy-guitarist-scott-gorham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/502103\/","title":{"rendered":"Phil Lynott remembered by Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham"},"content":{"rendered":"

January 2026 marked 40 years since the death of iconic Thin Lizzy<\/a> frontman Phil Lynott<\/a>. To mark the occasion, Classic Rock spoke to some of the great man\u2019s closest friends and bandmates. Here, Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham<\/a> looks back on one of rock\u2019s great musical partnerships and the friendship at the heart of it.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Classic\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time I met Phil Lynott, I mistook him for a waiter. My audition for Thin Lizzy took place at \u2013 of all locations \u2013 an African restaurant called the Oroque Club in West Hampstead \u2013 now long gone. Back in 1974 I had never even been to Hampstead before, and my knowledge of Thin Lizzy was just a few days old. At that point I had only been in the country for five months.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn Irish pal of mine had told me about this \u2018Irish band\u2019, and frankly I didn\u2019t have a clue what he was talking about. Irish band? Back then I was thinking bagpipes or something. But he insisted: \u2018No, no, no, they\u2019re a really cool band.\u2019 Apparently they\u2019d had a hit single, Whiskey In The Jar, but I hadn\u2019t heard it. I hadn\u2019t seen their picture in the papers and didn\u2019t know what they looked like.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Thin\n<\/p>\n

Thin Lizzy\u2019s Phil Lynott in the 1970s (Image credit: Michael Putland\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter I expressed an interest, their manager, Chris Morrison, asked me to come down and jam with the boys and I said: \u2018Yeah, absolutely.\u2019 When he heard my accent Chris said: \u2018Are you American?\u2019 I replied: \u2018Yeah? Is that a problem?\u2019 He thought for a second and replied: \u2018I don\u2019t know yet. We\u2019ll figure that out as we go.\u2019<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I\u2019ve got my guitar with me, and I find the back door of the restaurant. There\u2019s this long, dark hallway, and at the end a few tables and a gang of guys with flowery shirts on.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I got into the light, I heard: \u201cAre you Scott?\u201d There was this black guy. For a moment, I thought: \u2018That\u2019s really cool, they\u2019ve sent one of the waiters through to show me where to go.\u2019 But instead he reached out his hand and said: \u2018I\u2019m Phil. I sing and play bass with Thin Lizzy.\u2019<\/p>\n

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\n

\"Thin\n<\/p>\n

Thin Lizzy in the mid-70s: (from left) Phil Lynott, Scott Gorham, Brian Downey, Brian Robertson (Image credit: Erica Echenberg\/Redferns)<\/p>\n

I wondered whether I was in the twilight zone. What\u2019s going on here? As I tried to get to grips with the Irish accent coming out of this black guy, he yelled over to the two guys on stage: \u2018This is Scott. He\u2019s gonna jam with us today.\u2019 The two guys, who I learned were both called Brian \u2013 Robertson and Downey \u2013 just looked me over with complete indifference. I thought: \u2018That\u2019s real friendly.\u2019 I didn\u2019t know at the time, but they\u2019d already gone through twenty-four guitar players that day, and here comes number twenty-five to drop-kick out of the door. That explained the negative energy.<\/p>\n

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\u201cRight off the bat, my first impression of Phil was that he had an absolutely magnetic personality. Everything gravitated towards him. Obviously he was the leader of the gang, the one giving all of the directions. He was telling one Brian to do something, and the other Brian to do something else. But at the same time he was very friendly. Most band leaders, the ones feeling all the pressure, tend to be pricks, but Phil was quite easy-going.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a very generous guy. He did not want this to be Phil Lynott And Thin Lizzy. His whole thing was: \u2018We\u2019re all in this together. So if you have any ideas for riffs, chord patterns, anything, then bring them forward.\u2019 That\u2019s something I was really looking for \u2013 you know, a partner to write with. Someone I could learn more about songwriting from. And this guy was standing right in front of me. He had a real presence. I thought: \u2018This is fantastic.\u2019 And luckily I got the gig.<\/p>\n

Thin Lizzy – The Boys Are Back In Town (Official Music Video) – YouTube
\n\"Thin<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe more time I spent with Phil, the more I liked him. He had a mischievous smile and he was a force of nature. Some have said that there was an insecurity about him, and there might be something to that theory, but you must remember he had been the only black guy in Dublin. The first time I went to Ireland I quickly realised: \u2018My god, he had to grow up like that.\u2019 So, yeah, there may have been a little bit of insecurity but I figured he handled it all very well. It\u2019s not easy being The Lone Ranger, but he wasn\u2019t going to let that be his downfall.<\/p>\n

My first impression of Phil was that he had an absolutely magnetic personality. Everything gravitated towards him.<\/p>\n

Scott Gorham<\/p>\n

\u201cAmong the things I loved most about Phil was our shared sense of humour. That really drew us together. We laughed about everything \u2013 black jokes, white jokes, any kind of jokes.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhil was just a very cool, easy-going guy. But he had a trick he liked to pull. There was a time and space when if he didn\u2019t get his way then he\u2019d threaten to leave the band. And of course the only possible response was to say: \u2018Okay then, you can have your way.\u2019 If he said it once he said it a thousand times. But one time I called his bluff. I said: \u2018Alright. Well, that\u2019s it. It\u2019s all over, we\u2019re going back to the apartment. You quit the band.\u2019 And Phil got all flustered because he knew he had been busted. I told him: \u2018You are never going to use that phrase again, right?\u2019<\/p>\n

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\"Thin\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Erica Echenberg\/Redferns)<\/p>\n

\u201cThin Lizzy worked really, really hard trying to take off, and there were many, many times when we feared it was never going to happen for us. Our whole premise was trying to be as original as we possibly could. Which made me wonder how might this actually be for an original band? Are we gonna get enough people on board to actually sustain us?<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then The Boys Are Back In Town became a hit and we were big- time all over the world. When that happened, it felt incredible. It became a completely different thing for the band. The paranoia over the following album, or the fear of not being able to do the next tour, all of that was gone. The fuse had been lit and we were all ready to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it did happen, it felt like the most natural thing in the world. Of course it was going to, right? But it was like being part of a madhouse. There were some fiery characters within Thin Lizzy, and a lot of crazy shenanigans took place. You know, somebody would quit halfway through an American tour, or somebody would say they were not going with us on this really important trip to Australia.<\/p>\n

Jailbreak – Thin Lizzy | The Midnight Special – YouTube
\n\"Jailbreak<\/p>\n

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\u201cEach time that happened I would always ask Phil: \u2018Is this it? Are we done? Can we get another guy in here, and will the audience buy it?\u2019 Phil\u2019s response was always the same: \u2018Yeah. One hundred per cent.\u2019 He knew there was not going to be a problem. If a new character came into the band, while I often had doubts, Phil was always so sure about everything. We were always going to make it work. And that\u2019s pretty much what happened. Thank god for that. And I was dragged along by his optimism.<\/p>\n

He had been the only black guy in Dublin. The first time I went to Ireland I realised: \u2018My god, he had to grow up like that.\u2019<\/p>\n

Scott Gorham<\/p>\n

\u201cPhil was such a good band leader. The most successful type of band leader is one that listens to those around him. You can\u2019t make all of those decisions by yourself. It\u2019s egotistical to think of yourself as such a genius that everything you say or do is going to be correct. Phil wasn\u2019t like that. He was the leader of the gang and it was his band, but he wanted to listen to what you had to say, and it was taken seriously every single time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess from the outside, people might have felt that Thin Lizzy was just this indestructible thing. I don\u2019t think of any band in the history of music has ever felt indestructible, except maybe the Rolling Stones. The way that musical trends change, the constant changes in the charts\u2026 it all feels so precarious. There\u2019s never going to be a safe space. But once we got rolling, we were pretty hard to dislodge. We got our heads down and we kept going.<\/p>\n

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\"Thin\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Ian Dickson\/Redferns)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a school of thought that when Phil had Thin Lizzy taken away from him in 1983, when the band broke up, it sent him into a tailspin. Unfortunately the truth is even sadder still.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhil was already in a tailspin, due to the drugs. It\u2019s why I kept telling him we had to walk away from the band. I said: \u2018Buddy, both of us are ill right now. Being in this pressure cooker isn\u2019t doing us any good. We\u2019ve got to deal with that. It won\u2019t heal the wounds that both you and I have. We\u2019ve got to get out of this, not for ever, but we\u2019ve got to give it a while, man. So that we can heal ourselves.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Phil was dead against that. I know that sounds unbelievable. He was in denial, almost. That\u2019s what his situation was at that point. Whereas I was adamant. I told him: \u2018I\u2019ve got a problem, and Phil, you\u2019re worse than I am right now. So you\u2019ve got to realise that you have a problem also, right?\u2019 He was like: \u2018Yeah, yeah, yeah\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

Thin Lizzy – Don’t Believe A Word (Official Music Video) – YouTube
\n\"Thin<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEven before the farewell tour, I had already threatened to quit the band to get straight, but Phil talked me around: \u2018We can\u2019t do that to the fans.\u2019 He meant quitting. \u2018We\u2019ll get another guitar player on the right hand side of the stage. We\u2019ll do another album, we\u2019ll do another world tour, and then we\u2019ll walk away\u2019. I said: \u2018Well, okay.\u2019<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a school of thought Phil went into a tailspin when the band broke up. He was already in a tailspin, due to the drugs<\/p>\n

Scott Gorham<\/p>\n

\u201cI had gone in there intent on bolding this thing out, and now we\u2019re doing another world tour. This guy could talk you into just about anything.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn Sykes brought the band rejuvenation with the Thunder And Lightning album, so perhaps you could understand why Phil thought there was still some life there. But I kind of felt sorry for John. Although he would have realised that this was the end, at least for a while, when he joined us I don\u2019t know if anybody actually mentioned to him that this was it \u2013 the last tour. I always felt a little pang of guilt about that.<\/p>\n

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\"Thin\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Fin Costello\/Redferns)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Phil was busy doing the Grand Slam thing, I was recuperating, if you can put it that way. Only Phil could tell you about the toll it took on him when he couldn\u2019t get that band off the ground. That\u2019s not my business.<\/p>\n

\u201cMyself, I was eating and sleeping better and staying away from a whole gang of people because I didn\u2019t want to be tempted back into taking more drugs. I was on a path and I needed to stay on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo unfortunately I lost contact with Phil for a little over a year. But finally I felt well enough and had enough comfort in myself to go over and see Phil. I wanted to be around him again and show him what I had been talking about \u2013 that I was healthy, and that it could be done. I was busting to get going again. I wanted to get back out on the road, and not to simply have to be out there. There\u2019s a big difference.<\/p>\n

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\"Thin\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Richard E. Aaron\/Redferns)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I saw him, Phil told me: \u2018Yeah, man. You look great.\u2019 And I\u2019ve got to say that he looked terrible. And still he was saying: \u2018Listen, let\u2019s get the band together again.\u2019 And I go: \u2018We can\u2019t do that, buddy. You\u2019ve got to get better. You\u2019re losing your voice all the time. Until you realise that, it\u2019s just not going to work.\u2019 He just didn\u2019t realise.<\/p>\n

I do know that Phil would be so proud that the legend of Thin Lizzy lives on. Had he lived, it would have made him very emotional. <\/p>\n

Phil Lynott<\/p>\n

\u201cA little later I got a call from Phil\u2019s driver, Big Charlie, who told me that Phil had had a serious heart attack. When I asked which hospital he was in, Charlie said: \u2018It\u2019s only immediate family they\u2019re letting in, but I will give you a call to let you know how he progresses during the day, right?<\/p>\n

\u201cTo take my mind off things, randomly I decided to go down into the basement and spend some time cleaning up that area of the house. When the phone rang again upstairs, I didn\u2019t hear it. But my wife, Christine, screamed: \u2018No! No!\u2019 I knew right then what had happened. And I just sat down on the stairs and cried. It was that immediate for me. Christine opened the door, came down and started to say: \u2018Scott\u2026\u2019 and I just sighed: \u2018You don\u2019t need to tell me.\u2019 What a terrible, terrible day that was.<\/p>\n

Thin Lizzy – Do Anything You Want To (Official Music Video) – YouTube
\n\"Thin<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s the old saying that time heals all wounds. To a certain degree that\u2019s true, but not completely. Unfortunately. Even forty years later, I often find myself thinking about Phil. A song will come on the radio, or when someone happens to mention my friend who is no longer around, it takes me right back to those days.<\/p>\n

\u201cForty years on, I wish I knew why the Thin Lizzy songs are still loved and adored the way they are. I can\u2019t really explain it. But I do know that it\u2019s all about the fans, and I thank them for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhil loved his football. He was crazy about Manchester United. And in a way Thin Lizzy inspired that same loyalty and passion. This was our gang, you know. Nobody\u2019s going to win against Thin Lizzy United. That mindset brought the band and the fans together in a big way.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully the fans really saw the heart and soul that we put into everything we did. Everything was for the fans. I like to think that\u2019s why they stuck with us \u2013 and they still do, even though Phil\u2019s not there. And neither are some of the others, sadly. But the feeling remains the same to the true Thin Lizzy fans.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Thin\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Fin Costello\/Redferns)<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years and years we had this stage-door-open policy after every show. It was something that Phil insisted on. You know, come on backstage, talk to the band, get the autographs and have the pictures taken. That was really an advantage for us, because we could ask: \u2018Hey, what did you think of that new song we put into the show tonight? Whatever you think, there is no wrong answer. If you thought it was crap, be honest, tell us.\u2019 We relied on them for that type of inside information, and they would give it to us every night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do know that Phil would be so proud that the legend of Thin Lizzy lives on. Had he lived, it would have made him very emotional.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw it again when we put the Thin Lizzy band back together with John Sykes on vocals and later on with Ricky Warwick. Every single night, thousands and thousands of fans bellowed out those songs all over again. The fervour was still there, even if Phil wasn\u2019t. But we felt his presence every single time we walked out there on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"January 2026 marked 40 years since the death of iconic Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott. To mark the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":["post-502103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}