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Lemmy (born Ian Fraser Kilmister, December 24 1945), also known as Lemmy Kilmister, Ian Willis and Lemmy von Motörhead, is an English singer and bass guitarist. He is best known as the founding member of the heavy metal band Motörhead. His appearance, facial moles, mutton chops (sideburn-moustache combination), and gravelly voice, have made him an instantly recognisable cult figure.
y was born Ian Fraser Kilmister on 24 December 1945 in Burslem, Stoke on Trent, England.
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Quotations
For earth to heal, we must die. No one deserves it more.
If you think you are too old to rock 'n roll then you are.
That was a great time, the summer of '71 - I can't remember it, but I'll never forget it!
The only time I've seen any rebellion was in the fifties, sixties and early seventies. The rest of it you can keep.
Safe sex, safe music, safe clothing, safe hair spray, safe ozone layer. Too late! Everything that's been achieved in the history of mankind has been achieved by not being safe.
One thing I am very glad of is that I went through the sixties. People who didn't really don't know what they missed. We pushed a certain consciousness, a way of life and it was exciting - no AIDS, people weren't dying so much from drug abuse and it was truly a time of freedom and change.
Encyclopedia
Lemmy (born Ian Fraser Kilmister, December 24 1945), also known as Lemmy Kilmister, Ian Willis and Lemmy von Motörhead, is an English singer and bass guitarist. He is best known as the founding member of the heavy metal band Motörhead. His appearance, facial moles, mutton chops (sideburn-moustache combination), and gravelly voice, have made him an instantly recognisable cult figure.
Childhood and early life
Lemmy was born Ian Fraser Kilmister on 24 December 1945 in Burslem, Stoke on Trent, England. When Lemmy was three months of age, his father, an ex-Royal Air Force chaplain, separated from his mother. His mother and grandmother settled in Newcastle-under-Lyme then moved on to Madeley, Staffordshire.
At the age of 10, Kilmister's mother married George Willis, who had two older children from a previous marriage, Patricia and Tony, with whom he didn't get along. The family moved to a farm in Benllech, Anglesey, North Wales and it was during this time that he started to show an interest in rock and roll music, girls and horses. He attended Ysgol Syr Thomas Jones school in Amlwch, where he was nick-named Lemmy, although he is unsure why, and it would later be claimed that it originated from the phrase "Lemmy a quid til Friday" due to his habit of cadging money off of people to feed his addiction to fruit machines.
He saw The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club when he was 16, then played guitar along to their first album, learning the chords. He also admired the sarcastic attitude of the group, particularly that of John Lennon. Upon leaving school and with his family relocated in Conwy, Kilmister undertook menial jobs including working at the local Hotpoint factory while also playing guitar for local bands, such as The Sundowners, and spending time at a horse riding school. At the age of 17, he met a holidaying girl named Cathy and he followed her to Stockport where she had his son, Sean. Sean was put up for adoption.
Recording and performing career
Early years: 1960s
In Stockport he joined local bands The Rainmakers then The Motown Sect, who enjoyed three years playing northern clubs. Wanting to progress further, in 1965 he joined The Rockin' Vickers who signed a deal with CBS and released three singles and toured Europe, reportedly being the first British band to visit Yugoslavia. With the band living in a Manchester flat, he had a relationship with a girl named Tracy who bore him a son, Paul, although it wouldn't be until the boy was 6 that Lemmy had any involvement with the child.
Wanting to progress even further, he relocated to London in 1967. Sharing a flat with Noel Redding, he got a job as a roadie for The Jimi Hendrix Experience. In 1968 he joined Sam Gopal and recorded the album Escalator and the single "Horse". After meeting Simon King in a Chelsea shopping centre during 1969, he joined the band Opal Butterfly, but the band soon folded, having previously failed to raise enough interest with their preceding CBS singles.
At this point he thought about changing his legal name to his stepfather's surname of Willis, but with his actual father's surname of Kilmister, he decided changing his birth certificate and passport would be too much hassle, so didn't bother. An attempted reconciliation in 1970 between Lemmy and his birth father broke down, with Lemmy describing him as a "nasty little weasel".
Hawkwind: 1971 – 1975
- See also Hawkwind (1970-75: United Artists era)
In 1971, Lemmy joined the space rock band, Hawkwind, who were based in Ladbroke Grove, London. He had little experience as a bass guitarist, but quickly developed a distinctive style that was strongly shaped by his early experience as a rhythm guitarist, often using double stops and chords rather than the single notes preferred by most bassists. His bass work was a fundamental part of the Hawkwind sound during his tenure, perhaps best documented on Space Ritual. He also provided lead vocals on a number of songs, including the band's biggest UK chart single, "Silver Machine", which reached No.3 in 1972.
Motörhead 1975 – present
In 1975 Lemmy was fired from Hawkwind after he was arrested at Canadian customs on drug possession charges; he spent five days in prison. He went on to form a new band with guitarist Larry Wallis (former member of the Pink Fairies, Steve Took's Shagrat and UFO) and drummer Lucas Fox. Lemmy's connection with Took (formerly of T.Rex) was not limited to Wallis, as they were personal friends and Took was the stepfather to Lemmy's son, Paul. This new band was originally called Bastard. When his manager informed him that a band by that name will never get a slot on "Top of the Pops", Lemmy changed the band's name to Motörhead - the title of the last song Lemmy wrote 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. The band's sound appealed to both Lemmy's original fans, as well as to fans of the nascent punk rock scene. In fact, he asserts that he generally feels more kinship with punks than with heavy metal; he even played with The Damned for a handful of gigs when they had no regular bassist — and Lemmy's guttural vocals were unique in the world of rock at that time. The band's success peaked between 1980 and 1981 with a number of UK chart hits, including the classic single "Ace of Spades" (still a crowd favourite today) and the #1 live album No Sleep 'til Hammersmith. Motörhead have since gone on to become one of the most influential bands in the heavy metal music genre, and although Lemmy is the only constant member, are still performing and releasing records to this day. Despite Motörhead's many member changes over their 30-year history, the current lineup of Lemmy, Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee has remained constant since 1995.
Lemmy has also worked with a number of other musicians over his career, and occasionally guests with Hawkwind. He was brought in as a songwriter for Ozzy Osbourne's 1991 No More Tears album, providing lyrics for the tracks "Hellraiser", (which Motörhead later released on their "Hellraiser" single) "Desire", "I Don't Want to Change the World", and the single "Mama I'm Coming Home". Lemmy has noted in several magazine and television interviews that he made more money from the royalties of that one song than he had in his entire time with Motorhead. Lemmy published his autobiography, White Line Fever in November 2002. In 2005 Motörhead won their first Grammy, beating out such modern contemporaries like Slipknot, Killswitch Engage, Hatebreed, and Cradle of Filth, in the Best Metal Performance category with their cover of Metallica's "Whiplash". He lives in a two roomed flat in Los Angeles, two blocks away from his favourite hangout the Rainbow Bar and Grill.
An officially licensed Lemmy figurine has been produced. Available as a "regular" or "special" edition, Lemmy recalls:
I had to stand on this platform while the camera went around and did the hologram thing and then they made the model, only smaller. They said it's an action figure, and I said, 'So, you're gonna put a dick on it?' They said, 'No.' I said, 'Well, then it's not going to get much action then, is it?' A bad name for it, right?
In February 2009, it was confirmed that Lemmy will appear as an unlockable character in the upcoming Guitar Hero: Metallica game.
Film and television career
Lemmy has made a number of appearances in film and television, including the 1990 science fiction film Hardware and the 1987 comedy Eat the Rich, for which Motörhead also recorded the soundtracks. In the 1980s Motörhead were the musical guests on the cult British TV show "The Young Ones", episode entitled "Bambi". In the 1994 comedy Airheads (in which he is credited as "Lemmy von Motörhead"), one scene involving Brendan Fraser, Adam Sandler, and Steve Buscemi, has Brendan Fraser's character, "Chazz" Chester Darvey talking to an undercover cop who is pretending to be a record executive — Chazz asks him, "Who'd win in a wrestling match, Lemmy or God?", the cop replies, "Lemmy", to which Rex, played by Steve Buscemi, imitates a game show buzzer and the cop quickly changes his answer to "... God!". Rex replies saying, "Wrong, dickhead, trick question. Lemmy is God". Lemmy appears in the film and shouts out (truthfully) that he edited his school newspaper as other people in the crowd admit geeky pastimes in their youth. Lemmy has also appeared in several movies from the Troma studio.
Having a predilection for self-deprecating parody, he once appeared in an advertisement for Kit Kat chocolate bars, miming a piece of chamber music on the violin, in an upper-class tea-room, and he also appeared in an ad for Walkers where he gets his crisps stolen. He also appeared on an intro scene on The Drew Carey Show in which Motörhead plays outside Carey's home, startling him awake. Lemmy is one of very few musicians to have been mentioned on Beavis and Butt-Head who was not made fun of. Upon seeing Lemmy making a cameo appearance in the Ramones' "Substitute" video, Butthead exclaims, "He's Lemmy. He can be in any damn video he wants to!". Lemmy made an appearance in the music videos for the 1986 Boys Don't Cry song "I Wanna Be A Cowboy" and the 1998 Rap song "Freak of the Week".
Motörhead performed the entrance theme song "The Game" for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s Triple H (who at one point wore his mustache and sideburns like Lemmy as a tribute), as well as "Line in the Sand" for Triple H's now defunct wrestling stable, Evolution. In 2006, they once again provided theme music for WWE as they recorded the song "King of Kings" for Triple H on the Wreckless Intent CD.
He's currently set to voice the Kill Master in the video game Brütal Legend.
Lemmy also appears in the new Airbourne music video for "Runnin' Wild". he plays a trucker driving wildly while the police chase him down a highway.
Lemmy recently has appeared on Down and Dirty with Jim Norton as the series deejay, and also created the theme music.
Lemmy: The Movie
A documentary/rockumentary on Lemmy has been announced for release in 2009. Entitled simply "Lemmy" and directed/produced by Greg Olliver and Wes Orshoski, the film is some two years in the making and is being shot on a combination of 16mm film and HD video. It will feature interviews with friends, peers and admirers such as Dave Grohl, Slash, Ozzy Osborne, Alice Cooper, Peter Hook of Joy Division/New Order, Dee Snider, Mick Jones of The Clash, Jim Heath of Reverend Horton Heat, Slim Jim Phantom of The Stray Cats, Mike Inez, pro skateboarder Geoff Rowley, pro wrestler Triple H, C.C. Deville of Poison, Fast Eddie Clarke, Johnny Knoxville, Jarvis Cocker, Marky Ramone, former Hawkwind
bandmates Dave Brock and Stacia, and Steve Vai. The film is said to set the record straight on a number of rumors and myths regarding Lemmy's lifestyle. To help promote the movie, Kilmister designed a t-shirt for sale on the film's web site.
Image and celebrity status
Dave Grohl, on his Probot website, summarises musicians he worked with, for Lemmy's entry he wrote:
We recorded his track in Los Angeles in maybe two takes about a year and a half ago. Until then I'd never met what I'd call a real rock 'n' roll hero before. Fuck Elvis and Keith Richards, Lemmy's the king of rock 'n' roll - he told me he never considered Motorhead a metal band, he was quite adamant. Lemmy's a living, breathing, drinking and snorting fucking legend. No-one else comes close.
Sexuality
In a Channel 4 documentary called "Motorhead: Live Fast, Die Old", broadcast on August 22, 2005, it was claimed that Lemmy "had bedded" in excess of 2,000 women. Maxim magazine has Lemmy at number 8 on its top ten "Living Sex Legends" list, as they claim that he has slept with around 1200 women.
In the documentary he explained that while in school he noticed a pupil who had brought a guitar to school and had been "surrounded by chicks". His mother had a guitar, which he then took to school, even though he could not play, and was himself surrounded by girls: "In those days just having a guitar was enough... that was it".
Drugs
During Lemmy's time with Hawkwind, he developed an appetite for speed and acid and was to become renowned for his use of speed. Before joining Hawkwind, he recalled Dik Mik, a former Hawkwind sound technician, visiting his squat in the middle of the night and taking speed with him. They became interested in how long "you could make the human body jump about without stopping", which they did for a few months, until Mik ran out of money and wanted to return to Hawkwind, taking Lemmy with him.
In November 2005, he was invited to the Welsh Assembly as a guest speaker by Tory Welsh assembly member William Graham. He was asked to express his views on the detrimental effects of drugs. However he shocked the Assembly Members and Welsh public when he called for the legalisation of heroin: "I have never had heroin but since I moved to London from north Wales in '67 I have mixed with junkies on a casual and almost daily basis," he said. "I also lived with a young woman who tried heroin just to see what it was like. It killed her three years later. I hate the idea even as I say it, but I do believe the only way to treat heroin is to legalize it." He stated that legalization would eradicate the drug dealer from society.
Collector
Lemmy collects Nazi memorabilia, and has an Iron Cross encrusted on his bass, which has led to accusations of Nazi tendencies. However, he considers himself an anarchist or libertarian, and that he is "anti-communism, fascism, any extreme," saying that "government causes more problems than it solves". According to Keith Emerson's autobiography, two of Lemmy's Hitlerjugend knives were given to Emerson during Lemmy's time spent as a roadie for The Nice. Emerson used these knives many times as keyholders when playing the Hammond Organ during concerts with The Nice and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
Equipment
Lemmy positions his microphone in an uncommonly high position, angled so that he appears to be looking up at the sky rather than at the audience. He said that it was for "personal comfort, that's all. It's also one way of avoiding seeing the audience. In the days when we only had ten people and a dog, it was a way of avoiding seeing that we only had ten people and a dog".
He has used Rickenbacker 4001 and 4003 bass guitars almost exclusively since his Hawkwind days, although some of these instruments were modified with the installation of Gibson Thunderbird pickups in the neck position. Rickenbacker produced a 50-bass run of Lemmy Kilmister signature basses, the 4004LK, which is fitted with three pickups, gold hardware, and elaborate wood carving in the shape of oak leaves. Lemmy has been using a customised 4004.
He uses hot-rodded Marshall JMP Superbass II amplifiers from the later 1960s/early 1970s. Each amp, with a nominal output of 100 watts, is used with a 4x12 speaker cab and a custom-made 4x15 cab. He uses two such stacks, one on each side of the drum riser. For many years the amps were nicknamed "No Remorse", "Killer" (left side amp) or "Murder One" (right side amp) with appropriate nameplates. "No Remorse" was subsequently replaced by a new amp nicknamed "Marsha" when, as Kilmister said in an October 2004 interview, it "blew up". "Killer" and "Murder One" were believed to have been destroyed in Argentina when all the other equipment was stolen but this was later proved to be untrue. In 2006 Marshall Amplification designed new, prototype versions of "Murder One" which were then put into production, whilst the original amplifier was retired. A limited number of these bass heads have been released by Marshall in 2008 as the "1992LEM", a signature series copy of Lemmy's 1992 100 Watt Super Bass Head, "Murder One".
The phrase "everything louder than everyone else" sums up Lemmy's sonic approach, as he plays at the loudest possible levels. He uses the bridge pickup exclusively (giving his bass sound more definition) and turns all the tone and volume knobs on the bass up full. On the amplifiers, he turns the bass and treble off, and the midrange up all the way, with the volume and presence up to the 3:00 position. The result is a biting midrange sound which is somewhat distorted but not "fuzzed out" or "blurry", a formula well-suited to his use of open-string drones and power chords. In the 1990s after a Motörhead show at Hultsfred, Sweden a radio reporter asked Lemmy "If you were to play here again in ten years, how do you think you would sound?" Lemmy replied "Same, but louder..."
Lemmy has occasionally played electric or acoustic guitar, notably on the acoustic song "Ain't No Nice Guy" from Motörhead's March Ör Die album, the title track on 1996's Overnight Sensation, "Limb from Limb" on Overkill, "Boogeyman" on Rock 'n' Roll, and "Whorehouse Blues" from the Inferno album.
In September 2006, his Rickenbacker bass was featured in the Bang Your Head exhibition at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.
Discography
- For releases with Motörhead see the Motörhead discography
As a member of The Rockin' Vickers
- 1965 – "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart" / "Stella" (7" single)
- 1965 – "It's Alright" / "Stay By Me" (7" single)
- 1966 – "Dandy" / "I Don't Need Your Kind" (7" single)
- 2000 – The Complete: It's Alright (compilation)
As a member of Sam Gopal
As a member of Hawkwind
As a member of Robert Calvert's band
Side projects and career spanning
- 1990 – Lemmy & The Upsetters – Blue Suede Shoes
- 2000 – Lemmy, Slim Jim & Danny B – Lemmy, Slim Jim & Danny B
- 2006 – The Head Cat – Fool's Paradise
- 2006 - The Head Cat - Rockin' The Cat Club: Live From The Sunset Strip
- 2006 – Lemmy – Damage Case (Compilation)
Band collaborations
Charity collaborations
Guest appearances
- 1988 – Albert Järvinen Band – Countdown
- 1989 – Nina Hagen – Nina Hagen
- 1994 – Fast Eddie Clarke – It Ain't over Till It's Over – guests on "Laugh at the Devil".
- 1994 – Shonen Knife – Rock Animals – guests on "Tomato Head" single remix (Track 3 - "Lemmy In There Mix") - not the album track
- 1996 – Skew Siskin – Electric Chair Music
- 1996 – Ugly Kid Joe – Motel California
- 1996 – Myth Dreams of World – Stories of the Greek & Roman Gods & Goddesses
- 1996 – Skew Siskin – Voices From The War
- 1997 – The Ramones – We're Outta Here! – guests on "R.A.M.O.N.E.S."
- 1999 – Jetboy – Lost & Found
- 1999 – Skew Siskin – What The Hell
- 1999 – A.N.I.M.A.L. – Usa Toda Tu Fuerza – guests on a version of AC/DC's "Highway To Hell"
- 2000 – Doro – Calling The Wild
- 2000 – Swing Cats – A Special Tribute To Elvis – guests on "Good Rockin' Tonight", "Trying To Get To You" and "Stuck On You"
- 2001 – The Pirates – Rock Bottom
- 2001 – Hair of the Dog – Ignite – guests on "Law"
- 2002 – Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Mike Batt and guests – Philharmania – guests on "Eve Of Destruction"
- 2003 – Ace Sounds – Still Hungry
- 2003 – Skew Siskin – Album Of The Year
- 2004 – Probot – Probot – guests on "Shake Your Blood"
- 2005 – Throw Rag – 13 Ft. and Rising – guests on "Tonight the Bottle let me Down"
- 2007 - The Warriors – Genuine Sense of Outrage – guests on "Price of Punishment"
- 2008 - Airbourne - Guest actor on Airbourne's "Runnin' Wild" Music Video
- 2008 - We Wish You A Metal Christmas - Run Run Rudolph
- 2008 - Legacy - Girlschool album - Don't Talk To Me vocals, bass, triangle and lyrics.
Appearances on film soundtracks, tribute, wrestling and various artists albums
- 1990 – Hardware: Original Soundtrack – contains "A Piece Of Pipe" by Kaduta Massi with Lemmy
- 1990 – The Last Temptation Of Elvis: Blue Suede Shoes – contains "Blue Suede Shoes" by Lemmy & The Upsetters
- 1994 - Airheads: Cameo on film and performing "Born to Raise Hell" on the Soundtrack
- 1997 – Dragon Attack: A Tribute to Queen – performs on "Tie Your Mother Down"
- 1998 – Thunderbolt: A Tribute To AC/DC – performs on "It's A Long Way To The Top"
- 1998 – ECW: Extreme Music – contains a version Metallica's "Enter Sandman" by Lemmy and Zebrahead
- 2000 – Bat Head Soup – Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne – performs on "Desire"
- 2001 – Frezno Smooth: Original Soundtrack – contains a version of Twisted Sister's "Hardcore" by Lemmy
- 2001 – A Tribute To Metallica: Metallic Assault – performs on "Nothing Else Matters"
- 2002 – Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three – performs on "Thirsty & Miserable"
- 2002 – Metal Brigade – performs on "Good Rockin' Tonight" by Lemmy and Jonny Ramone
- 2005 – Numbers from the Beast: An All Star Salute to Iron Maiden – performs on "The Trooper"
- 2005 - Metal: A Headbangers Journey
- 2006 - Flying High Again: The World's Greatest Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne - Performs "Desire" with Richie Kotzen
Videography
VHS
DVD
Further reading
- 1981 Motörhead - Author: Alan Burridge, published by Babylon Books, ISBN 0-86001-935-7
- 1994 The Illustrated Collector's Guide To Motörhead - Authors: Alan Burridge and Mick Stevenson, published by Collector's Guide Publishing, ISBN 0-9695736-2-6
- 2002 White Line Fever - Authors: Lemmy and Janiss Garza, published by Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-684-85868-1
- 2002 Lemmy: In His Own Words - Author: Harry Shaw, published by Omnibus Press, ISBN 0-7119-9109-X
- 2002 Motorheadbangers Diary Of The Fans Volume 1 - Author: Alan Burridge, published by e-booksonline(uk)ltd, ISBN 1-903949-14-9
External links
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