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Leeroy Thornhill biography

Full name: Lee Roy Paul Thornhill
From: Essex, United Kingdom
Born: 8 October 1968
Role: Ex-dancer (used to help sometimes with the equipment in the live shows).

I have been a full member of Prodigy for a brilliant nine years but I wish to concentrate fully on my own music as Flightcrank and I wish the band all the best for the future.

Past

Leeroy Thornhill is from Essex (born October 8, 1968, Barking, Greater London). He was born in Barking but raised in Rayne near Braintree in Essex, and grew up as a football and James Brown fan. He is a supporter of UK team Arsenal (he also played at the popstar soccer championships). Before the formation of the Prodigy, he used to work as an electrician. He also loves playing with Playstations (e.g. with Formula One and Football games).

Leeroy was a big rave fan at the time when he joined The Prodigy along with Keith Flint after they met Liam Howlett at a local rave club. Both were dancers for the band's live show. Thornhill's height is 6 foot 7 inches (200 cm), a whole foot taller than Flint who is 5 foot 7 inches (170 cm).

He is also great dancer with incredible footwork. (Most of his dance moves come from watching James Brown videos). He makes it look real easy, but chances are you'll never be able to move like this guy. He was also into the breakdancing phase that swept the world in the mid-eighties, and would regularly equip himself with a beefy stereo, bottle of Mr. Sheen and a piece of lino and make his way out into the streets to breakdance with his mates.

His style of dance can be described as a 'technical running on the spot'. This style of dance has reportedly had a major influence in the development of the Melbourne Shuffle underground rave dance style, and thus Thornhill was interviewed for the underground dance documentary 'Melbourne Shuffler' to talk about his dancing.

He was the most normal looking guy compared to the rest of the band, he was just as or even crazier than the others. According to several Prodigy articles on NME and Melody Maker, he was probably the most perverted and sick one of them all. Basically he was not afraid to show his true feelings, or enjoy being in a techno band that rocks the hardest. He was definitely one to watch on stage. He really added depth to an already insane group. Usually when the band were interviewed he used to be the second quietest right after Liam.

Leeroy spent 10 years with the Prodigy world wide touring, live events, T.V etc. but in in spring 2000 he finally decided to left the Prodigy to concentrate on his own productions and re launching his DJ career which is what he had been doing for the 5 years previous to The Prodigy. Leeroy's last gig with Prodigy was Sophia, Bulgaria (August 1999). He also played a bit of drums at that gig.

"The whole touring thing got to him [Leeroy] and he didn't want to dance anymore," Howlett said. "We asked if he wanted to do something else, like drums. So he went and bought a drum kit and never really bothered to learn. He decided enough was enough and we said 'If you're going to leave, the best time is now'. " Source

Present

Leeroys DJing has taken him over all of Europe and Ireland and also extensively in USA. Some stand out, gigs include DJing before Finlaye Quay in London and Primal Scream gig in Dublin. Also when ever Djing along side Coventrys infamous Johnny Mac are the best of times.

Leeroys music style is a mix of tuff breaks, old skool samples and electro known as Miami bass. A style Leeroy picked whilst touring with the Prod in mid 90's Miami. This is basically a great mash up of Party breaks full of Funk to Rock the floor and heavy on the electro edge.

Production wise Leeroy has been a very busy boy remixing and producing lots of international talent including. David Gray, Lee Scratch Perry, Kool Keith, Moby, Shades Of Rhythm, Dr. Dooom and Southern Fly. His own band Flightcrank released the first album in March 2001 to critical acclaim.

Read more about his solo projects from solo section.