Lemmy Kilmister

Heavy Metal Musician. Born Ian Fraser Kilmister, he was a founding member and frontman of the heavy metal rock group “Motörhead”. Inspired to become a musician after seeing the Beatles perform in concert, he spent his early years playing in a variety of bands, as well as working on the road crew for rock guitar legend Jimi Hendrix. In 1972 he was hired to play bass in the British ‘space rock’ group “Hawkwind”, despite having no previous experience on the instrument. He developed his bass skills, and became an integral part of shaping the group’s sound, which during his time culminated in critically received album “Space Ritual” and the song “Silver Machine”, which reached Number 3 on the British popular music charts. He was fired from the band in 1975, after which he formed “Motörhead”, which he would lead for the next 40 years until his death. The band would reach commercial success after drummer Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor and guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke replaced original members, and the line up of Kilmister, Taylor and Clarke would be considered by heavy metal fans to be the band’s classic formation. From 1976 to 2015 Lemmy Kilmister and Motörhead would record and release twenty three full length albums and numerous singles, the best known being “Ace of Spades”, “Orgasmatron” and “Killed By Death”. In 2005 their cover of Metallica’s “Whiplash” earned them a Grammy Award. He died of cancer shortly after his 70th birthday.