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Prodigy dancer and vocalist Keith Flint found dead aged 49

Bez of the chemical generation made an indelible mark on British music

The iconic vocalist behind one of Essex's better musical exports, Keith Flint of the Prodigy, has been found dead at his home in Dunmow. He was 49.

Police released a statement this morning, saying: "We were called to concerns for the welfare of a man at an address in Brook Hill, North End, just after 8.10am on Monday.

"We attended and, sadly, a 49-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. His next of kin have been informed.

"The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner."

The techno/rave/big beat clan was formed 1990 in the nearby town of Braintree and at one point, ahead of the release of The Fat of the Land album seven years later, was utterly inescapable to even the most casual music fan.

Flint, donning shock-rock makeup and the infamous double-mohawk hairdo, terrorised living rooms across the UK for a time as the haunting video for the number-one single "Firestarter" gained airplay on crucial shows like Top of the Pops.

To the amusement of their parents, small kids in the bath started to mold their hair with shampoo, insisting that they were "the Prodigy", such was the impact the track had on British pop music in the mid-'90s.

"Firestarter" was quickly followed by another number one, "Breathe", where Flint's inimitable punk rock drawl creepily invited listeners to "come play my game" – again accompanied by a memorably dark video.

The Prodigy never again scraped the same level of chart-topping success, but they clearly didn't give a toss. The band continues to be massively popular to this day, and Flint's passing will be hard to bear for many thousands of electronic music fans across the world.

Flint, who had continued to tour and perform with the band, also ran a pub in Pleshey near Chelmsford, before reportedly ending his tenancy at the end of 2017. A wag on Twitter claimed:

The official website refuses to load this morning – for obvious reasons. ®

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