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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ian Fraser Kilmister |
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| Born | 24 December 1945 Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England |
| Died | 28 December 2015 Los Angeles, California, United States |
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| Years active | 1965–2015 |
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| Website | imotorhead.com |
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Ian Fraser Kilmister (24 December 1945 – 28 December 2015), better known as Lemmy, was an English musician, singer, and songwriter who founded and fronted the rock band Motörhead. His music was one of the foundations of the heavy metal genre He was known for his appearance (including his friendly mutton chops), his distinctive gravelly voice and distinctive bass playing style.
Lemmy was born in Stoke-on-Trent and grew up in North Wales. He was influenced by rock and roll and the early Beatles, which led to him playing in several rock groups in the 1960s, including the Rockin’ Vickers. He worked as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and the Nice, before joining the space rock band Hawkwind in 1971, singing lead on their hit “Silver Machine”. After being fired from Hawkwind for drug possession, he founded Motörhead as lead singer, bassist, songwriter and frontman.
After Hawkwind, Lemmy formed a new band called “Bastard” with guitarist Larry Wallis (former member of the Pink Fairies, Steve Took’s Shagrat and UFO) and drummer Lucas Fox. Lemmy and Took were friends, and Took was the stepfather to Lemmy’s son Paul. When his manager informed him that a band by the name of “Bastard” would never get a slot on Top of the Pops, Lemmy changed the band’s name to “Motörhead” – the title of the last song he had written for Hawkwind
Soon after, both Wallis and Fox were replaced with guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke and drummer Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor and with this line-up the band began to achieve success. Lemmy’s guttural vocals were unique in rock at that time, and were copied during the time when punk rock became popular. The band’s sound appealed to Lemmy’s original fans and, eventually, to fans of punk. Lemmy asserted that he generally felt more kinship with punks than with metalheads; he even played with the Damned for a handful of gigs when they had no regular bassist. The band’s success peaked in 1980 and 1981 with several UK chart hits, including the single “Ace of Spades”, which remained a crowd favourite throughout the band’s career, and the UK No. 1 live album No Sleep ’til Hammersmith. Motörhead became one of the most influential bands in heavy metal. Their – and Lemmy’s – last live performance was in Berlin on 11 December 2015.
Reviewing his career after his death, The Daily Telegraph said:
Over the years as guitarists and drummers passed through Motörhead’s lineup, Lemmy remained the grizzled heart of the machine. His bronchial rasp—directed into a towering microphone tilted down into his weather-beaten face—was one of the most recognisable voices in rock, while his Rickenbacker guitar recast the bass as an overpowered, distorted rhythmic rumble
Lemmy’s first bass was a Hopf model that he bought soon after joining Hawkwind. For the majority of his career, he used Rickenbacker basses.In September 1996, his Rickenbacker bass was featured in the Bang Your Head exhibition at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Rickenbacker have introduced a signature 4004LK “Lemmy Kilmister” bass. He used a large, powerful, loud bass stack made by Marshall Amplification. Specifically, he used Marshall JMP Super Bass amplifier “heads” to drive three cabinets, each with four 15″ speakers; the three cabinets were labelled “Killer,” “No Remorse,” and “Murder One”.
Bass Stuff 