Keith Flint dead: The Prodigy singer was only 49

The last photo taken of The Prodigy frontman Keith Flint just two days before his tragic death has emerged and shows him looking fit.

A picture believed to be the last taken of Prodigy frontman Keith Flint shows him competing in a fun run near his home.

The 49-year-old star ran the Chelmsford park run in Essex, achieving a personal best of 21.22 on Saturday morning at 9am, The Mirror reports.

Two days later he was found dead at his home in Dunmow, Essex.

Prodigy co-founder Liam Howlett said in an Instagram post that Flint took his own life over the weekend.

“I’m shell shocked … confused and heart broken,” he wrote.

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Keith Flint taking part in the Chelmsford 5k run. Picture: Facebook/Chelmsford Central Park run

Keith Flint has died at the age of 49.

In other developments, there are reports Flint had fallen into depression after separating from his Japanese wife Mayumi Kai and putting their Essex farmhouse on the market.

The split from his wife may also have prompted him to start taking drugs again, The Sun reported.

Details of a haunting last interview have also surfaced in which Flint described himself as a “kind of court jester meets asylum escapee”.

In the interview he discussed his troubled childhood and “dark periods”.

He said: “I’m not saving up for anything. I’m cashing it all now.

“I’ve always had this thing inside me that, when I’m done, I’ll kill myself.”

Keith added: “The moment I start s*itting the bed is when you’ll see me on the front of a bus.”

Liam Howlett, Maxim and Keith Flint.

Police confirmed that the body of a 49-year-old man had been found at a home in Brook Hill, northeast of London, at 8.30am local time Monday.

They said the death was being treated as non-suspicious and a file would be sent to the coroner — standard practice in cases of violent or unexplained deaths.

Flint — renowned for his manic stage energy and distinctive look: black eyeliner and hair spiked into two horns — toured Australia with the band last month.

Their last concert was the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney on February 2.

Keith Flint performs at the Gold Coast Big Day Out. Picture: Supplied

“A true pioneer, innovator and legend,” the band said in a statement confirming his death.

“He will be forever missed.”

NO STRANGER TO CONTROVERSY

Born Keith Charles Flint on September 17, 1969 in East London, he moved to east of the city to Braintree, Essex as a child, where he met co-founder Liam Howlett at a nightclub.

The Prodigy was formed in the early 1990s, with Howlett as producer and Flint originally employed as a dancer before becoming singer and the onstage focal point.

The band sold 30 million records, helping to take rave music from an insular community of partygoers to an international audience.

They had seven No. 1 albums in Britain, including Firestarter and Breathe in 1996 and most recently with No Tourists in 2018.

The band attracted criticism for the 1997 single Smack My Bitch Up, and the accompanying sex and drug-fuelled video.

The National Organization for Women accused the song of encouraging violence against women, and it was banned by the BBC.

The band denied misogyny, pointing out that the song’s protagonist is revealed in the video to be a woman.

The star was known for his wild live performances. Picture: Supplied

The band’s rise coincided with soul-searching in Britain over electronic dance music and its related drug culture, and the Prodigy became known as much for its anti-Establishment stance as for its songs.

The band members were vocal critics of the UK’s Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which banned the raves popularised in the late-1980s during the so-called Second Summer of Love.

According to the BBC Flint was due to start a US tour in May.

MUSIC INDUSTRY MOURNS

Tributes began to pour in for the music legend who was gone too soon.

If you are experiencing mental health issues you can always contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or BeyondBlue 1300 224 636.

Originally published as Keith Flint dead: The Prodigy singer was only 49