Lemmy, lead singer of Motorhead, dies aged 70

“DEATH is an inevitability, isn’t it? You become more aware of that when you get to my age. I don’t worry about it. I’m ready for it. When I go, I want to go doing what I do best. If I died tomorrow, I couldn’t complain. It’s been good.”

So said legendary Motorhead frontman, Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister, who died yesterday, December 28, after a brief battle with an aggressive cancer. 

The iconic wildman of rock ‘n’ roll, credited with pioneering speed metal, was born in Staffordshire on Christmas Eve 1945 and devoted his entire life, and style, to music. A roadie for Jimi Hendrix in the early sixties, he played with many bands, most notably Hawkwind who in Lemmy’s words fired him “for doing the wrong type of drugs”. 

It was as the growling, aggressive founder and lead singer of the deafeningly destructive Motorhead, however, that Lemmy secured his place in the rock ‘n’ roll hall of fame, with 1980 single ‘The Ace of Spades’ considered their definitive anthem with its blaring bass.

Tributes have poured in from across the music world with Ozzy Osbourne and Gene Simmons paying their respects. Lemmy’s rock fame was rivalled only by his fearless, no regrets personality and legendary lifestyle that had many believe he truly was indestructible.