Phil Lynott Anniversary Special

Hot Press editor Niall Stokes interviewed Phil with his Thin Lizzy bandmate Brian Downey in July 1978 as the pair basked in the success of their live double album Live And Dangerous.

Liam Mackey had his first encounter with Lynott in 1981, shortly after Thin Lizzy released Renegade.

Tony Clayton-Lea conducted one of the most revealing Lynott interviews in 1984, as he prepared to go solo after the demise of Thin Lizzy.

The late Bill Graham penned this stirring epitaph for the great man after attending his funeral in January 1986...

...and reflected on his death once again five years later in 1991.

Philo would have turned 50 in 1999 and it was then that Peter Murphy profiled the legend and talked to a host of music figures about his enduring influence.

In 2004, to mark the publication of her book about her son, Hot Press visited Phil's mother Philomena Lynott at her Dublin home, which has since become a place of pilgrimage for Irish and international rock fans.