He Lived Hard, And Bit The Dust Harder
Lemmy Kilmister was the hard-living bassist and vocalist of Motörhead. No one drank more or had a higher body count than this rock star. But his lifestyle came at an unspeakable cost.
1. He Was A Christmas (Eve) Gift
Ian Fraser Kilmister—AKA Lemmy—entered the world on Christmas Eve in 1945, in Stoke-on-Trent. His timing seemed prophetic for someone destined to leave a lasting mark on music—but his beginning was far from auspicious.
2. His Father Abandoned His Family
When Lemmy was just three months old, his father, a former Royal Air Force chaplain, abandoned his family. However, he clearly left an impression on his nascent son—his father had been a concert pianist. The early separation nevertheless contributed to Lemmy’s independent, rebellious streak.
3. His Mother Remarried
Following his father’s abandonment, Lemmy Kilmister moved around with his mother and grandmother, eventually settling in Madeley. Then when he was 10, his mother remarried George L Willis, a former rugby player. But it didn’t make Lemmy feel whole.
4. He Hated His New Step-Siblings
Willis, Lemmy’s new stepfather, had two other children from a previous relationship, and it turned the home into a living nightmare. Instead of gaining lifelong companions, Lemmy loathed his new step-siblings—and the feeling was mutual. In fact, he was always on the outside.
5. He Was An Outsider In Wales
Lemmy’s family relocated again, eventually settling in the Welsh village of Benllech. Lemmy recalled being the only English kid among 700 Welsh peers—a challenging but formative experience, which he described as “interesting from an anthropological point of view”.
But the Welsh gave him something that he would never forget.
6. He Became Lemmy
While attending Ysgol Syr Thomas Jones in Amlwch, “Ian Fraser” gained his now-iconic moniker, “Lemmy”. While the future punk rock star claimed that he didn’t know where the name came from, his classmates certainly did.
7. He Had A Habit Of Asking For Money
According to some sources, the name “Lemmy” came from a rather unflattering origin. It had to do with the youngster’s supposed habit of borrowing money; as in “lemmy a quid ‘til Friday”. Lemmy himself, however, dismissed the story, admitting he had no idea where the nickname truly came from.
8. He Developed A Taste For The Finer Things In Life
Lemmy’s taste for a fast and filthy lifestyle developed early on. In high school, he began expressing an interest in rock and roll, motorbikes, horses, and, of course, girls. It didn’t take him long to realize that he could have it all.
9. He Learned The Magic Of Music
At school, Lemmy Kilmister noticed a fellow student surrounded by girls—all because he had a guitar. The image stuck with him, sparking an idea that would guide his future. Though, not necessarily for the better.
10. He Found His Mother’s Guitar
In an effort to get some of the female attention that he wanted, Lemmy soon brought his mother’s guitar to school. While the ploy worked, it was just that: a ploy. In those early days, Lemmy couldn’t even strum a note, far less rock a stage. But he got what he wanted in the end: girls.
11. He Had His First Brush With Fatherhood At 17
At 17, Lemmy met a girl named Cathy during a holiday and followed her to Stockport. Cathy later gave birth to his son, Sean, who Cathy ultimately put up for adoption. Decades later, in a 2010 documentary, Lemmy revealed that he had reconnected with Sean’s mother, but didn’t have the heart “to tell him who his father was”.
And he wasn’t the only child Lemmy fathered.
12. He Reunited With Another Son—On Stage!
Early on in his career, Lemmy Kilmister had a brief relationship with a woman named Tracy in Manchester. But, apparently, “brief” was all Lemmy needed. Tracy later gave birth to his son, Paul Inder. This time, however, Lemmy was happy to meet his son. As fate would have it, Paul grew up to be a guitarist and father and son would, on occasion, rock out on stage together.
He may have had a few more familial bandmates than he knew.
13. His Love Life Became Legendary
By the mid-2000s, Lemmy’s reputation for romantic dalliances had reached shocking proportions. In a documentary about his most famous band, Motörhead, it was claimed he had slept with over 2,000 women. Lemmy later joked, “I said more than 1,000; the magazine made it 2,000”.
Another source suggests Lemmy was just being coy.
14. He Made The List Of Living Love Legends
Shortly after the documentary about Motörhead, another major publication made astonishing claims about Lemmy’s libido. In their “Living [Love] Legends” list, Maxim ranked Lemmy eighth, estimating he had been with around 1,200 women. True or not, Lemmy’s unapologetic lifestyle made him a cultural icon.
Makes sense—seeing as though he learned from icons.
15. He Saw Them Before They Were Famous
Considering his hard-rocking rep, Lemmy’s first inspiration came from a surprising place. At 16, Lemmy attended a Beatles performance at Liverpool’s Cavern Club, before they became a global sensation. Nevertheless, their impact on Lemmy was monumental. Inspired by the performance, Lemmy picked up his mother’s guitar with more than just a desire to woo the ladies. He began teaching himself to play guitar, using the Beatles debut album Please Please Me as a guide.
It wasn’t just their chords that he liked.
16. He Loved The Beatles’ Attitude
In addition to their music, Lemmy admired the Beatles’ for their wit, especially John Lennon’s cutting sarcasm. Reflecting on their tough beginnings, he said, “Brian Epstein cleaned them up for mass consumption, but they were anything but sissies”. He learned a lot from the Beatles.
17. He Respected The Beatles’ Toughness
Lemmy loved the working class nature of the Beatles. “The Beatles were from Liverpool,” he explained, “a hard, sea-faring town with dockers and sailors who’d beat […] you for winking at them”. If he wanted to develop his own sound, he would have cut his teeth first.
18. He Worked His Way Up
After leaving school, Lemmy embarked on the road less traveled. He moved to Conwy, Wales, with his family and took on odd jobs, mingling with the hard-working commoners he admired so much. But, even then, he was working towards musical greatness.
19. He Balanced Work With Music
While juggling odd jobs, Lemmy also pursued music. He played with local bands like The Sundowners and joined the Rainmakers and Motown Sect, performing in northern clubs while exploring his passion for horse-riding. It wouldn’t be long before his music took him to every corner of the globe—even dangerous ones.
20. He Took Europe By Storm
In 1965, Lemmy joined The Rockin’ Vickers, signing with CBS and releasing three singles. The band’s popularity saw them tour Europe, even taking them to Yugoslavia where they became the first British group to play in the former Soviet state.
Funny enough, however, the real dangers for Lemmy came from another world.
21. He Had A Close Encounter Of The UFO Kind
While traveling with The Rockin’ Vickers in 1966, Lemmy witnessed something extraordinary over the Yorkshire Moors. "This thing came over the horizon and stopped [abruptly] in the middle of the sky,” the rocker claimed. “Then it went from a standstill to top speed, immediately. We don't even have aircraft that do that now, never mind then”.
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22. He Became Hendrix’s Roadie—And Confidant
After leaving The Rockin’ Vickers, Lemmy moved to London in 1967 and shared a flat with Noel Redding, bassist for the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Working as a roadie for the band, Lemmy learned the invaluable skills of a rockstar; namely how to score substances and to get through the night on five hits of acid.
Suffice to say, he put Hendrix’s lessons to good use.
23. He Dabbled In Psychedelic Rock
In 1968, Lemmy joined the psychedelic rock band Sam Gopal under the name Ian Willis. The group released the album Escalator in 1969, showcasing Lemmy’s early forays into experimental music. But, it may have been a little too experimental.
24. He Swallowed Evidence To Evade The Five-O
One crazy incident nearly landed Lemmy in prison for life—or worse. When he and a friend were taking some substances, authorities pulled them over. In an effort to avoid getting caught, the two split 100 blue pills between them and stuffed them in their mouths to hide the evidence.
Though they escaped the law, they did not escape danger.
25. He Survived A Near-Fatal Night
The effects of the mysterious pills nearly landed Lemmy six feet under. Later that night, after successfully evading the authorities, his breathing slowed, and he appeared lifeless, with two people mistakenly thinking he had passed on. “I was lying there with both eyes open, having a hard time speaking,” he later recalled.
Lemmy’s reaction to the incident was jarring.
26. He Lived Life On His Own Terms
Whether it was the thousands of women he slept with, or the copious amounts of substances he ingested, Lemmy had a simple—if dangerous—philosophy in life. “Gambling is for fools,” he said, “but that’s the way I like it”. Of course, not all of his gambles paid off.
27. He Joined—And Lost—A Band Quickly
In 1969, Lemmy met drummer Simon King and joined Opal Butterfly. While he held high hopes for the ensemble, things quickly deteriorated. Despite their efforts, the band disbanded soon after coming together, struggling to gain traction with their singles.
28. He Learned A Little More From Hendrix
Lemmy learned more from Jimi Hendrix than just how to live off psychedelics. Reflecting on his time with the legendary guitarist, Lemmy recalled, “Jimi was effortlessly cool. He made bad jokes, but he was the best guitar player you’ll ever see—probably ever”. And he was about to follow in his footsteps.
29. He Found His Voice With Hawkwind
In 1974, Lemmy joined the space rock band Hawkwind, which allowed him to push his musical boundaries to new heights. The experience set the stage for his eventual rise as the frontman of Motörhead. Of course, it wasn’t exactly a straight line to success.
30. He Got The Wrong Sulfate—Which Led To A Terrible Fate
Before joining Hawkwind, a friend of Lemmy’s convinced a nurse to take amphetamine sulfate from her workplace. But a simple mishap led to a dangerous situation. Instead of amphetamine sulfate, the nurse made a brutal mistake. She accidentally brought home atropine sulfate. What happened next would bring Lemmy as close to a grizzly end as he would ever come.
31. He Overdosed—By 200 Times The Safe Amount
Lemmy, never one to second guess a good score, got right into the atropine sulfate. Always one to push boundaries, he consumed a teaspoon of the substance, equivalent to “200 times the overdose”. Unsurprisingly, he had a less than pleasant high.
32. He Was Brought Back From The Brink
In his memoir White Line Fever, Lemmy recalled his atropine experience. He recounted cradling a TV under his arm, speaking to it as though it were alive, before passing out completely. He’s lucky to have woken up at all.
33. He Escaped The Grim Reaper By An Hour
Lemmy Kilmister barely survived his atropine mishap. When he woke up, he was in a hospital, where doctors gave him some foreboding news. “If we got you in another hour,” the medical staff informed him, “you [wouldn’t have made it]”.
34. He Had Dizzying Hallucinations
Even after the hospital staff miraculously saved his life, Lemmy endured weeks of sporadic hallucinations—and his recollections were chilling. “I’d be reading a book,” he said, “and I’d turn to page 42—but there was no book”. It was a sobering, if temporary, brush with mortality. Before long, he was back to his antics.
35. He Found A New Direction With Hawkwind
In August 1971, Lemmy Kilmister joined the space rock band Hawkwind as their bassist and vocalist. Based in London’s Ladbroke Grove, the band gave him the creative outlet he craved and an opportunity to jumpstart his stalling career.
And by jumpstart, we do mean jumpstart.
36. He Took Advantage Of A Lucky Break
Lemmy got his start with Hawkwind under stressful circumstances. When the band’s bassist failed to show up for a gig, Lemmy saw an opportunity. He later said, “Their bass player was pretty much saying 'please steal my gig!' So I stole his gig”. And he stole the show.
37. He Was An Unlikely Bassist
Lemmy Kilmister had no experience playing bass when he joined Hawkwind on stage. However, bandmate Michael “Dik Mik” Davies convinced him to take the role right before a benefit gig in Notting Hill, marking the start of his iconic style.
38. He Rocked The Show
Lemmy used the MIA bassist’s abandoned equipment in the band’s van to step in and make a name for himself. Not for the last time, his gamble paid off. His performance that night launched his career as a bassist and ultimately as a frontman.
His new bandmates liked more than just his musical stylings.
39. He Bandmates Loved His Lifestyle
Dik Mik thought that Lemmy was the right fit for Hawkwind, not because of his skills with a guitar and mic, but because of his off-stage lifestyle. He saw Lemmy’s love of amphetamines as just what Hawkwind needed from a bassist and frontman, to create some wild energy. Their shared enthusiasm for a fast-paced lifestyle sealed Lemmy’s place in the band.
Of course, it didn’t hurt that he was changing rock music forever.
40. He Created His Own Sound
Lemmy’s transition from rhythm guitar to bass shaped his unmistakable playing style. Unlike most bassists, he approached the instrument as if it were a guitar, carving out a sound entirely his own and cementing Hawkwind’s legacy as a “cosmic” band.
His methods were…different.
41. He Played With Power, Not Precision
Lemmy Kilmister never did anything the conventional way—including playing bass guitar. Rather than sticking to single-note bass lines, Lemmy played double stops and full chords, creating a driving, gritty tone that made his bass roar like a rhythm guitar on overdrive.
Fans clearly appreciated his style.
42. He Left His Mark On Hawkwind’s Sound
During his time in Hawkwind, Lemmy’s unique bass work became a signature element of the band’s sound. So much so, that he practically became synonymous with them. His contributions were immortalized on Space Ritual, their iconic live double album.
His guitar wasn’t his only instrument.
43. He Took The Mic For Their Biggest Hit
Lemmy wasn’t just a bassist—he could sing too. He provided lead vocals on Hawkwind’s 1972 hit “Silver Machine”, which climbed into the top three on the UK charts and became the band’s biggest success.
Unfortunately for Lemmy, however, no good deed ever goes unpunished.
44. He Was Charged For The Wrong Reason
In May 1975, while touring North America, Lemmy ran afoul of the authorities at the Canadian border in Windsor, Ontario. The border officers found amphetamines in his possession, but made a huge mistake. They mistook the musician’s stash of amphetamines for something worse, escalating the situation.
45. He Spent A Night Behind Bars
The authorities held Lemmy behind bars overnight. But, when the morning broke, so did his unlucky streak. Once the officers realized that they had misidentified, and subsequently mischarged, the manic musician, they had no choice but to let him go. Unfortunately, the incident was enough to create panic within Hawkwind and their management.
46. His Trouble Spelled Disaster For Hawkwind
Despite his release, the band feared Lemmy’s time behind bars would jeopardize their ability to re-enter the United States. The incident proved to be a turning point in their relationship with him. Lemmy Kilmister was about to learn that money made sweeter sounds than music.
47. His Bandmates Fired Him For His Bad Habits
Once success—and money—was on the line, Lemmy’s antics proved too dangerous for Hawkwind. Despite the fact that Lemmy’s Hawkwind bandmates had hired him precisely because of his amphetamine consumption, the band’s management felt differently. Already frustrated by what they considered Lemmy’s erratic behavior, management used his troubles at the border to push him from the band.
Just like that, his four-year tenure came to an unceremonious end. He was, however, surprisingly kind about the whole thing—kind of.
48. He Never Wanted To Leave
Reflecting on his time with Hawkwind, Lemmy Kilmister admitted, “I did like being in Hawkwind, and I believe I’d still be playing with them today if I hadn’t been kicked out. It was fun onstage, not so much offstage”. Even so, he never spoke ill of his former bandmates.
49. He Had A Deep Respect For The Band
Despite the fallout, Lemmy never lost respect for Hawkwind’s musicianship. “Musically, I loved the drummer, the guitar player,” he said. “It was a great band”. His departure, however, set him on a path to form something even greater.
50. He Formed A Band With A Band Name
After his departure from Hawkwind, Lemmy Kilmister wasted no time forming a new band of his own with guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. But the band’s name was, shall we say, unrepeatable. Sticking to his usual defiant ways, Lemmy named the after a swear word frequently used to insult people born to unmarried parents.
If you’ve never heard of that band before, there’s a reason.
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51. He Renamed The Band Motörhead
Lemmy’s manager pointed out a harsh truth: a band with that name would never make it in the music industry. In a rare instance of acquiescence, Lemmy agreed to rename the group Motörhead, after the last song he’d written for Hawkwind. The name stuck—and soon became legendary.
They were just missing one final ingredient.
52. He Met A Wild Card For His Future Band
During the summer of 1975, Lemmy encountered Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor, a stoner who frequented his house to score. “He was always telling us he was a drummer,” Lemmy remembered, “but we never took him seriously”. Turns out, this stoner meant business.
53. He Gave Philthy Animal A Chance
When the drummer Lemmy Kilmister hired for his new band didn’t work out, he turned to Phil. “Phil said, ‘Sure, I’ll come down and do it for you,’” Lemmy recalled. It turned out Phil was exactly the maniac Lemmy was looking for. His fans were kind of crazy, too.
54. He Endured Punk Rock Spit Showers
In the late 70s, England’s hard rock crowds expressed their admiration for their favorite bands in seriously unusual ways. Instead of roses or applause, the fans hawked loogies at their beloved bands. Motörhead, which had quickly rocketed to the top among rockers, often found themselves showered in phlegm.
“I never liked it,” Lemmy admitted, “but we accepted we couldn’t stop it”. But he didn’t have to do what he did next.
55. He Shut Down A Heckler With Style
Once, after a particularly grotesque gobbing incident, Lemmy pulled a giant glob of spit off his arm and rubbed it into his hair. He then borrowed a line from Winston Churchill: “Tonight I’ll have a shower and I’ll be clean, but tomorrow you’ll still be a stinking [jerk]”. The crowd loved it.
That was, somehow, not the most outrageous thing he did on stage.
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56. He Had A Unique Onstage Experience
Lemmy didn’t just endure chaos on stage—he embraced it. Recalling one wild 70s gig, he said, “A chick climbed up [onstage] and blew me. I was singing—well, I couldn’t stop, could I?” Lemmy’s dedication to his “performance” was, as always, unwavering.
However, his lifestyle was beginning to catch up with him.
57. He Collapsed Before Recording “Ace Of Spades”
In 1980, just before rehearsals for Motörhead’s landmark album Ace of Spades, Lemmy collapsed backstage after a show at Stafford Bingley Hall. True to form, he bounced back in time for the encore, but something was clearly wrong.
58. He Blamed Exhaustion…And Other Indulgences
In his memoir White Line Fever, Lemmy told the press that “exhaustion” had caused his collapse. It wasn’t exactly road tiredness though. He clarified that his exhaustion was the result of receiving three visits from women that afternoon. “That was true, actually,” he admitted. “There were chicks all over the place, and there was this really cute Indian bird—she was two of them”.
That was, apparently, just the beginning.
59. He Was Caught In A “Compromising” Situation
Lemmy’s wild reputation followed him everywhere. In 1995, Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen described walking onto Motörhead’s bus in Austin: “There’s Lemmy, in a full Gestapo uniform, spanking [an unclothed] chick with a riding crop. She was loving it. So was he”. Jourgensen quietly closed the door and left them to it.
Lemmy’s enjoyment might have had more to do with his uniform than with the woman.
60. He Collected Third Reich Memorabilia
Lemmy’s stage presence often included regalia from the Third Reich, with an Iron Cross emblazoned on his bass. The collection stirred controversy, leading to accusations that the musician harbored troubling sympathies with one of history’s most horrific regimes. But Lemmy had something to say about it.
61. He Liked The Aesthetic, Not The Politics
Lemmy Kilmister dismissed the criticism, stating he collected the memorabilia because he liked how it looked. A self-proclaimed anarchist, he rejected any association with extremist ideologies. In all fairness, he had a good defense.
62. He Had No Tolerance For Hypocrisy
Lemmy defended his collection with characteristic bluntness. “If my then-girlfriend—who was Black—had no problem with it, then nobody else should”. In fact, the more Lemmy expressed his opinions, the more apparent it became that he believed in one thing only.
63. He Stood Firmly Against Intolerance
Lemmy Kilmister spoke out against bigotry and intolerance of all kinds throughout his career. He rejected religion, government, and established authority, preferring to live life by his own rules. His only true allegiance was to freedom—and rock and roll.
Apart from that, it doesn’t seem like Lemmy believed in much of anything else.
64. He Was Content To Wait For Answers
Given Lemmy’s fast and filthy lifestyle, it’s safe to say that he wasn’t religiously observant. But he wasn’t exactly a non-believer either. By 2011, Lemmy identified as an agnostic, unbothered by life’s big questions. “I can find out when I [pass on],” he said. “I can wait. I’m not in a hurry”.
But he was running out of time.
65. He Wanted An “Oil Change” For His Body
By 1980, Lemmy suspected 15 years of non-stop drinking and substance use had taken a toll on his system. In classic Lemmy fashion, he came up with a bizarre solution. He considered a full blood transfusion, describing it as “an oil change—out with the old, in with the new”.
Unfortunately for him, it wouldn’t be that simple.
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66. His Blood Was Too Polluted for Replacement
Ultimately, Lemmy’s doctor vetoed the transfusion. Tests revealed that his blood was so unhealthy from years of speed and drinks that healthy blood would have put him six feet under faster than a fall from his lofty heights. “He told me I didn’t have human blood in my system anymore,” Lemmy recalled with dark humor.
He was clearly running on something else.
67. He Had A Legendary Relationship With Jack Daniel’s
Lemmy’s reputation for drinking became the stuff of legend. For decades, he reportedly consumed a bottle of Jack Daniel’s every day, a ritual that began when he was 30 and became inseparable from his image—until he tried another addiction.
68. He Survived A Surgery—But Almost Not The Recovery
In 2011, Lemmy’s hard-living caught up with him. A terrifying diagnosis of arrhythmia saw surgeons implant “a miniature cardioverter-defibrillator” in his chest to save his life. While the surgery went smoothly, the recovery was harrowing.
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69. He Overdid It With Blueberries
In an effort to speed his recovery, Lemmy quit lighting up and cut back to one drink a day. So, doctors were left puzzled by his rapid weight gain until they discovered what else he had been doing: binging on blueberries as a substitute for Jack! “I guess anything in excess is no good for you,” Lemmy quipped.
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70. He Finally Let Go Of the Bottle
By 2013, Lemmy had stopped drinking Jack Daniel’s altogether. Reflecting on his life, the rockstar said, “I was not a good boy. I’ve had too much fun”. For Lemmy, it was the price—and the reward—of living without compromise. Sadly, he was running out of life to live.
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71. He Smoked For Most Of His Life
Lemmy picked up smoking at just 11 years old and carried the habit for decades. But, as his health deteriorated, he had cut down from two packs a day to just one pack a week. Nevertheless, his bad habits had already taken their toll as, towards the end, the Motörhead rocker had to rely on a walking stick.
72. He Kept Rocking Through Illness
In September 2015, Lemmy was hospitalized with a lung infection after experiencing breathing problems on stage. Even then, his instinct was to perform—pushing through the pain, as he had always done. He wouldn’t be able to push through his next health scare.
73. He Faced His Diagnosis Head-On
On December 26, 2015—just two days after his 70th birthday—Lemmy’s doctor’s gave him a grave diagnosis. They told him he cancer. The doctors informed him he had just two to six months left. True to form, he faced the grim news with a devil may care attitude and gritty resolve. The owner of his favorite bar, the Rainbow, even made a heartbreaking gesture, taking a video game Lemmy loved out of the bar and installing it by the rocker’s bedside.
However, he’d be taking his final bow sooner than he knew.
74. He Just Had Two Days Left
On December 28, 2015, just two days after his diagnosis, Lemmy Kilmister drew his final breath in his Los Angeles apartment. Prostate cancer, cardiac arrhythmia, and congestive heart failure finally claimed the man who had seemed indestructible for so long.
75. He Wanted The Truth Made Public
Lemmy’s manager initially planned to keep his diagnosis private until the inevitable. But Lemmy, ever honest and direct, insisted it be shared with the world. He passed before a press release could even be drafted, leaving his legacy to speak for itself.
And it spoke volumes.
76. He Was Born Lose—But Won Anyway
Even in the afterlife, Lemmy Kilmister stayed true to the legend he created. After his funeral, some of his ashes were placed in a 3D-printed urn shaped like his iconic cavalry hat, complete with the slogan that defined his life: “Born to lose, lived to win”.
Others were sealed into bullets which were distributed among friends, and there was even a rumor that Metallica frontman James Hetfield got a tattoo with Lemmy’s ashes mixed in the ink.