Further details about Keith Flint’s final days have emerged after The Prodigy star died yesterday (March 4).
The frontman was found dead at his home near Dunmow, Essex. His bandmates confirmed he had taken his own life on their social media pages, while a spokesperson for Essex Police told NME his death was not being treated as suspicious.
Those who knew Flint or interacted with him in the days leading up to his death have begun to speak out, remembering him as “positive and proud” and “the life and soul” of his Essex pub.
After achieving a personal best time in the Chelmsford edition of the weekly Parkrun race two days before his death, Flint was seen in a local pub buying lunch for his personal trainer. According to another diner at the Galvin Green Man pub, he “seemed really happy.”
They told MailOnline: “He seemed really positive and proud about his self-improvement and about how healthy he felt. There was no one else in the pub for him to be putting on an act for.”
Di Bennett, who worked behind the bar at Flint’s Leather Bottle pub near Chelmsford, described him as “the life and soul of the place.” “His hairdresser would dye his hair there for gigs,” she said. “That used to crack the regulars up. Or he’d ride one of his horses – his favourite was called Blackie – down to the pub for a drink.”
She added that he was “generous to a fault” and recalled occasions where he had held parties with locals or paid for his customers’ dinners. “When he wanted to, he certainly knew how to party,” she said. “But when he was scheduled to go on tour, he’d give up all the drinking and go running and working out with his personal trainer. He was very disciplined when he needed to be.”
“No one has a bad word to say about him. He’ll be terribly missed around here.”
Flint was reportedly trying to sell his Essex farmhouse at the time of his death, with estate agents Anderson’s posting details of the property last week (March 1). It was listed for “offers in excess of £1,500,000” and described as a “late 14th century Grade II listed four bedroom detached house.” The listing has since been removed.
The musician bought the house in 1997 for £200,000. According to the Sun, Land Registry documents showed a property adjustment order had been made on the house in March 2017, which made his wife Mayumi Kai entitled to a share of the property.
Flint is also said to have wanted to sell the Leather Bottle, near Pleshey, Essex, after it began to attract anti-hunt protestors. The pub became known as a meeting place for local fox hunters and was targeted by Anonymous in 2016. Protestors are said to have turned up at the pub more than once, allegedly prompting Flint’s bandmates to hire a local minder to keep them from doing any harm. The frontman bought the pub in 2014 but stopped running in it in 2017.
Numerous tributes have been paid to Flint since the news of his death, including from Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis, who revealed The Prodigy had been booked to play at the upcoming festival.
“We are so saddened to hear about the passing of Keith Flint,” Eavis wrote on social media. “He’s played here so many times with the Prodigy and was booked for 2019. What an incredible frontman.”