150 tapes of previously unreleased recordings by the late Phil Lynott, Dublin native and front man of Thin Lizzy, have recently been discovered and will be released in June as a boxed set. Lynott died 26 years ago today at the age of 36.

The Belfast Telegraph reports that before Lynott died, he gave the stash of tapes to a “third party” for safekeeping. On the 150 tapes were about 700 songs, all previously unreleased to the public. The “treasure trove” of recordings has recently been released to Universal Music, which was kept under wraps while the owners waited for the “right people to come along.”

The recordings, which span from 1971 through 1981, provide otherwise unheard recordings and versions of popular Thin Lizzy tunes. “This is an absolutely stunning find,” said Steve Hammonds, project manager of the new Thin Lizzy box set, to the Irish Independent.

"In every group there's a member who lovingly collects their recordings and in Thin Lizzy that was Phil Lynott, because Lizzy was his baby and his band,” said Hammonds.
__________________
Read More:
Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott celebrated 25 years after his death - SEE POLL

Lost photos of Phil Lynott and Rory Gallagher discovered

The top ten greatest Irish drinking songs - VIDEOS
___________________

Though the tapes were in Lynott’s possession before handing them off for safekeeping, it will ultimately be former band-mates Scott Gorham and Brian Downey who will have the “final say” on which tracks are actually released through Universal Music.

"The members of Thin Lizzy are fully involved with this project. We have been sending them tapes of what we've found and respecting their wishes as regards the material being issued and the art work," added Hammonds.

The upcoming release of the boxed set will be the second in recent years which displays otherwise unreleased Thin Lizzy recordings, such as last year’s ‘Live at the BBC.’ The release of ‘Live at the BBC’ spurred the owners of the 150 tapes to release them to Universal Music, knowing finally that the recordings would be in good management.

Phil Lynott died at the age of 36 in 1986. Tonight, RTE will remember the late musician with a new documentary entitled ‘The Philip Lynott Archive.’ The program will feature “the first screening of a fully restored version of the 1982 'Old Town' video.”