From a shaky start in Dublin in the late sixties, Thin Lizzy was to become one of the 20th century’s great rock bands. The story of their ascent is wild and riveting, and here for the first time it is told from inside the band by their guitarist Scott Gorham and rock journalist Harry Doherty, who toured with the band and interviewed them extensively from the early days.

There are also contributions from road crew, management and friends. In 1969 Phil Lynott and Brian Downey were approached by two former members of Van Morrison's band to form a new group. Thin Lizzy was born, a group notionally led by Lynott that would see a dizzying turnover of personnel as it took rock and the life style that came with it to new levels.

Record success eluded them until the early seventies when Decca released their ‘Whisky In The Jar’, a track already deemed unrepresentative of the band by Thin Lizzy themselves. It became a huge international hit and the albums Jailbreak and Live And Dangerous carried the band to the top of the charts just as they were about to become bankrupt.

The wild life continued unabated with stories of sex, drink and drugs, band member defections, label switches and non-stop touring that took its toll on everybody involved. Phil Lynott died aged 36 but by then Thin Lizzy was already a legend. This is Scott Gorham’s account of how the whole remarkable spectacle played out.