Rock history: Lemmy Kilmister (Motorhead)

Jonathan Touhey

On Christmas Eve in 1945, Ivan “Lemmy” Kilmister was born in Burslem, which is in the United Kingdom. Kilmister was the lead singer and bassist for the band Motörhead, but started off playing in local bands who played in clubs (Rainmakers and Motown Sect). In 1965, he was signed to CBS and toured Europe with his new band, The Rockin’ Vickers. When the band moved to Manchester, he had his first son, Paul, but wasn’t involved in his son’s life until Paul was 6 years old.

In 1967, Kilmister left The Rockin’ Vickers and shared an apartment with the bassist from The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Noel Redding, and became a roadie for the band. The next year he joined the band Sam Gopal and released the album Escalator in 1969. In 1971, Kilmister joined Hawkwind.

In 1975, he formed the band called “Bastards,” but later changed the name to Motörhead, which was the name of the last song he wrote for Hawkwind. Motörhead soon became one of the most influential bands in heavy metal history.

Kilmister brought a lot of fans from Hawkwind to Motörhead with the band’s sound. In 1980, the band’s popularity peaked and had multiple hits on the UK charts. The most popular song that hit the charts was “Ace of Spades.”

On Dec. 28, 2015 Kilmister died at age 70 of prostate cancer, congestive heart failure, and cardiac arrhythmia. His funeral was in the Hollywood Hills and his ashes were placed into a mantelpiece shaped like his cavalry hat that was emblazoned with his slogan “Born to lose, lived to win.”

Alice Cooper, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Scott Ian (Anthrax) and Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) paid tribute.