Hi all, my name is Raymond Wright. I would be what some people call a fanatic when it comes to Thin Lizzy.
In life when you come across something special you want to hang onto it.
And yes it was Thin Lizzy with me. Right from the 1st time I seen them.
That was the early 70’s . I was young , had a hard neck ( still have) and yes no money.
The no money was a prerequisite when your young. You then strived even harder to look like you had money. I had something a lot of other young people didn’t have.
Yes it was my sturdy very professional looking camera . Sorry girls if I disappointed you there. I didn’t always have film for it , but that never stopped me getting into gigs. I became a “familiar “ figure down the years so was able to blag drink etc etc.
There were many groups performing then. But Lizzy stood out by a mile.
You had Eric Bell on guitar. In his day he was up there with Hendrix. He was just super. The sound he made with just a wa-wa pedal wow.
Brian Downey the man at the back just played and played . When a gig was finished he just waived and walked off, the silent type ha.
So that leaves Phil the main man, the superstar.
So how do you know a superstar.
One of the ways I guess is when there would be 20 or 30 beautiful girls at the right side of the stage. When they tell you to “ f off “ and won’t let you near to take a picture because they may loose there place. Well that sort of gives the game away.
In the early days, the girls came up with the name “ sex on a stick. “for Phil. I think he liked that.
Dublin in those years was very conservative . You could be the president and walk down the street. All you would get is “hello how’s it going”. When Phil started to hang out it all went out the window. There were only 3 or 4 black people in Dublin then. So when he stood out he just done that. It also helped that he was good looking and not too shy. So he really was Dublin’s 1st superstar. We loved him for it and he was our superstar.
I met Phil lots of times down the years. We would chat or have a drink.
He always asked me how the show went or what songs didn’t work.
He knew what did work needless to say. So I told him the truth, guess that’s how we would always chat . Someone ( girl) would always move in. Being the man he was he would always chat to them . You would always get a big wink from him and the grin of course. He was working it .
I took hundreds of pictures of Lizzy down the years and even still have a few.
The 1stPhotographic and Art exhibition of Phil and Thin Lizzy was based around my pictures. The current Hotpress Phil Lynott exhibition in Dublin has 7 of my pictures I am proud to say.
I was extremely lucky down the years to get pictures published in lots of music magazines and newspapers. If you are old enough you may remember NME , Sounds, and Hot Press .
Nowadays I am just happy to see so many “new “ lizzy supporters everywhere.
If you are a fan of Phil’s then you would have to be a fan of Philomena his mother.
That’s where he got his charisma . Spend 5 minutes with Philomena and you will know what it was like to be with Phil. I am very happy to say we are great friends.
