Lemmy Kilmister, founder of the rock band Motörhead: biography, creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The main instrument of our hero is the guitar. Lemmy Kilmister is a British bassist, vocalist, and permanent member and founder of the rock band Motörhead. His stage image and the particular roughness of his voice made this man one of the most recognizable and iconic personalities in his genre. In 2010, the music industry decided to pay tribute to our hero and created a documentary called Lemmy. It was created over the course of three years in Hollywood in the home of the guitarist, as well as in different parts of the world where he gave his concerts.

Childhood

Lemmy Kilmister was born in 1945 in England, in the city of Stoke-on-Trent. When the boy was only 3 months old, his father, who was an Air Force chaplain, divorced our hero's mother. The family moved to Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Later my grandmother and mother went to Madeley, Stetfordshire. The family settled there. When the boy was 10years, his mother became the wife of George Willis. He already had two children born in his first marriage - Tony and Patricia. Then the family went to a farm in North Wales, Benlech, and began to live there. It was during this period that our hero showed interest in rock and roll, as well as horses and girls. He was sent to a school located in Amlouh. There he got a nickname.

After finishing school, he and his family moved to Conwy. Started working at the Hotpoint factory. In addition, he became a guitarist for local bands and attended a riding school. When our hero was 17 years old, he met a girl, Kathy. Moved with her to Stockport. Soon they had a son with Kathy. They named him Sean. It was later decided to give him up for adoption.

Early years

Lemmy Kilmister joined a band called The Rainmakers in Stockport. Later became a member of The Motown Sect. Desiring to continuously improve his skills, in 1965 he joined The Rockin' Vickers. The team signed a contract with CBS. The band then went on a European tour. She became the first British band to visit Yugoslavia.

Living in an apartment in Manchester with the band, the musician met Tracy. The girl bore him a son. They named him Paul. The musician did not take any part in the upbringing of his child until he was six years old.

Wishing to achieve more, our hero in 1967 went to London. He became a manager at The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Joined Sam Gopal in 1968recorded the disc Escalator, as well as the single Horse. After our hero met Simon King on the territory of the Chelsea shopping center, he became a member of the Opal Butterfly group. This is how Lemmy Kilmister began his professional career. Quotes from interviews of that time indicate that it was at this time that the idea came to him to take his stepfather's surname. However, he abandoned this idea, as he decided that changing a passport and a number of other documents was too troublesome.

Hawkwind

Lemmy Kilmister joined a space rock band in 1971. He unpleasantly surprised the old participants with uncontrollability, while having a major influence on the future development of the style of the team. Thanks to his previous experience, he played the bass like a rhythm guitar, thus strengthening the overall drive.

Brian Towne noted that keeping the wild bassist within disciplinary boundaries was a real headache, getting him to show up and then play there properly. However, the effort paid off when the musician took the stage, as he brought with him an energy storm in image and sound. The unique style of playing, as well as singing into a highly raised microphone, have become Kilmister's signature over the years. It was with our hero that the group recorded the strongest, as well as the most famous albums.

Changes in the line-up led to a radical change in the sound of the band. Hawkwind retained the blues-rock psychedelia, but consistently tightened up and increased the rhythm. However, the turning pointfor the team was the release of a single called Silver Machine. It was released in 1972. The work won the third place in the charts. The first version of the single was recorded on February 13th. Then the vocal part was taken over by Robert Calvert - the author of the text.

Motörhead

Undoubtedly, the main group that Lemmy Kilmister created is Motorhead. It all started with the fact that our hero was kicked out of Hawkwind. The reason was cited as his drug abuse. As a result, he decided to create his own group. At first he wanted to call her Bastard, which can be translated as "bastard". However, the manager dissuaded the musician, noting that a band with that name is unlikely to be called to Top of the Pops.

Then our hero chose Motörhead, based on the title of the last song he composed for Hawkwind. In slang, this term means "biker", according to another version - amphetamines. For greater aesthetics, the musician decided to write the indicated word through “o”, supplementing the letter with an umlaut. Our hero has radically changed the style of music. With this team, the guitarist has achieved worldwide recognition. He has become one of the symbols of hard rock.

The group reached its greatest popularity in the 1980s, when Ace of Spades received gold status and took fourth place in the British hit parade. In addition, the live album No Sleep 'til Hammersmith took first place just five days after its release. These works cemented Motörhead's reputation as one of the main British hard rock bands of their time.

Discography

Lemmy Kilmister recorded an album of the same name in 1977 with Motörhead. In 1979 he created records: Overkill, On Parole and Bomber. In 1980 the album Ace of Spades was recorded. In 1981 No Sleep Til Hammersmith was published. In 1982, Iron Fist is published. In 1983, work is underway on the album Another Perfect Day. In 1984 the album No Remorse was recorded.

Death

In 2015, December 28, Lemmy Kilmister passed away. His funeral took place shortly after the tragic event. Death overtook the musician in his own home in Los Angeles while playing a video game. He was 70 years old. The reason for his departure was an aggressive form of cancer. She was diagnosed with a musician just 2 days before his death. Later it turned out that it was prostate cancer.

A day after the death of our hero, drummer Mickey Dee announced the breakup of Motörhead. He noted that the history of the team ended, because Lemmy was his essence. However, the group's work will exist in the memories and hearts of many people. Colleagues of our hero admitted that they will no longer give concerts.