Motorhead’s Lemmy Dies of Cancer at Age 70

GEORGES GOBET/AFP/Getty Images
GEORGES GOBET/AFP/Getty Images
Daniel Nussbaum

Motorhead bassist and vocalist Ian Fraser Kilmister died in Los Angeles on Monday. He was 70.

Kilmister, known by the band’s fans and the rock community as Lemmy, passed away after a short battle with cancer, according to a statement on Motorhead’s official Facebook page.

“There is no easy way to say this…our mighty, noble friend Lemmy passed away today after a short battle with an extremely aggressive cancer,” the statement read.

He had learnt of the disease on December 26th, and was at home, sitting in front of his favorite video game from The Rainbow which had recently made it’s way down the street, with his family. We cannot begin to express our shock and sadness, there aren’t words. We will say more in the coming days, but for now, please…play Motörhead loud, play Hawkwind loud, play Lemmy’s music LOUD. Have a drink or few. Share stories. Celebrate the LIFE this lovely, wonderful man celebrated so vibrantly himself. HE WOULD WANT EXACTLY THAT.

The British-born musician founded Motorhead in 1975 after being fired from his previous band Hawkwind. The band would go on to produce 22 studio albums and nearly a dozen live albums that would sell tens of millions of copies worldwide.

Lemmy’s health had deteriorated in recent years. The musician once claimed to drink a bottle of Jack Daniel’s daily early on in his career, but in an interview with the Guardian in August, the notorious frontman said he had recently switched to vodka for health reasons.

Tributes quickly poured in for Lemmy from fellow musicians and friends:

https://twitter.com/flea333/status/681640482531741696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Check out Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades” below:

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