Click on a picture to see more details.
Lemmy Kilmister
Lemmy Kilmister was born on Christmas Eve 1945 in Burslem, a neighbourhood of Stoke-On-Trent. His mother was a librarian and his father served for the Royal Air Force during World War II, but left the family shortly after Lemmy's birth. When he was 10 year's old, Lemmy's mother married former football player and manufacturer George Willis. Shortly after, the family moved to the Welsh town of Benllech on the Isle of Angesley.
Lemmy left school at the age of 15 without graduation. After making a living working in a factory and a riding school, he left home and moved to Manchester. Along with neighbouring Liverpool, Manchester was the centre of a new and lively music scene, The Mersey Beat, named after the river Mersey that flows through both cities. Here, Lemmy played in a number of bands until 1967, when he moved to London, to work as a roadie for bands like Nice and The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
In 1971 Lemmy joined the Space-Rock band Hawkwind on bass, even though he actually was, at the time, a guitarist. He developed a distinctive style that was strongly shaped by his early experience as a rhythm guitarist. He also provided the lead vocals on several songs, including the band's biggest chart single Silver Machine.
In 1972 Hawkind fired Lemmy after he had been arrested for drug possession at the Canadian/American border. During that time, Lemmy took LSD and amphetamines. A life-long habitual drug user, Lemmy would quit in the 90s for health reasons though he would still drink heavily throughout the day.
After Hawkwind, Lemmy formed the band that would become his musical legacy. First he called it ‘Bastard’, but when his manager informed him that a band by the name of "Bastard" would never get a place in the charts, Lemmy changed the band’s name to Motörhead – the title of the last song he had written for Hawkwind,
The line-up started with Lemmy on bass, guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. Soon after, both Wallis and Fox were replaced by guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke and drummer Phil “Philty Animal” Taylor and the band began to achieve success. Other popular Motörhead members are Phillip “Wizzö” Campbell (since 1983), Mikey Dee (since 1992) and Michael “Würzel” Burston (1983 – 1995).
In September 1977 the band released its self-titled debut album Motörhead, which reached number 43 on the British charts. By selling 60.000 copies, it was awarded silver status. Their second album Overkill was also successful, finally providing the band's commercial breakthrough. With the release of their 4th album Ace Of Spades, Motörhead reached superstar status within the Heavy Metal scene. Most critics consider it the band’s best album.
Their last record, Bad Magic (28th of August 2015), was to be the band's first album that reached the top of the German album charts a week after its release.
By 2015, Lemmy's health was deteriorating. Two years before, due to heart conditions, he had an implantable cardioverte defibrillator fitted. After that he had to cancel several shows, including the promotional tour for the album Aftershock. Shortly after his 70th birthday, tumours in his head and neck area were discovered. On December 28th 2015, Lemmy died at his Los Angeles home, not as a result of those tumours, but of prostatic cancer.
With Lemmy Kilmister's death, Heavy-Metal lost one of its most prominent musicians. He hadn't only been frontman of Motörhead, but joined other famous bands like Doro, The Damned, Ramones, Metallica, Saxon, Foo Fighters, Slash and Böhse Onkelz as a guest musician. Lemmy had also been a member of Rockabilly supergroup The Head Cat, with which he recorded 4 albums. Alongside Lemmy on vocals, the band members were drummer Slim Jim Phantom (from The Stray Cats) and guitarist Danny B. Harvey (from Lonesome Spurs and The Rockats).