When Scott Gorham gave Ricky Warwick a call, Ricky thought his friend wanted to catch up. However, to his surprise, the guitarist asked him to front Thin Lizzy, and when Warwick accepted the offer right away, the rest was history. Still, in an interview with Paul Anthony for Planet Radio, Ricky discussed his worries about leading the band and replacing Phil Lynott.
“This is an hour-long show; I don’t think I’ve got enough time to explain it,” joked Warwick as he was asked to tell how he was invited to be the frontman of Thin Lizzy. “You know, I’ve known Scott [Gorham] for many years; I’ve known Scott for over thirty years. Somebody called up; I just thought he was calling to see how I was doing, and he asked me to sing for Lizzy.”
The rocker said that even though he was eager to front the band, he also had concerns. He recalled, “I immediately said, ‘Yes,’ and talked to him about his idea for putting the band back together and then put the phone down and went, ‘What have I done?’ I just went, ‘How am I going to do this? How am I going to do this? What can I do to make this work?’ You know, I went to my wife, and I said, ‘Is this a good idea?”
Ricky continued, “She said, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’ I went to one of my best friends, he’s another Lizzy fanatic, and asked his opinion. He said, ‘You’ve got to do it.’ The way I look at it is… Phil Lynott is the lead singer of Thin Lizzy. There’s nobody else. He’s a lead singer; he’s always been the lead singer of Thin Lizzy. It’s crass, and I’ll never be facetious enough to think I could even go anywhere near those shoes.”
The singer said it wasn’t about replacing Lynott but honoring and celebrating his music. He emphasized, “So, I don’t even try. All I can do is sing his brilliant songs and keep the songs alive, and the music alive that we all love and we all want to hear going forwards. That’s how I go about being in Thin Lizzy. I’m not the lead singer of thin Lizzy; Phil Lynott is the lead singer of Thin Lizzy. End of story.”
So, when Ricky Warwick was invited to front Thin Lizzy a decade ago, the rocker, as a fan of the band himself, didn’t aim to become Phil Lynott or step into the frontman’s shoes as the band’s new lead singer. Ricky wanted to honor Phil’s legacy and help Thin Lizzy’s sound continue live on.
