Motörhead frontman/bassist Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister has passed away due to a number of various health concerns including cancer, which was only found on December 26.
The band have released the following statement:
“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. 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, playHawkwind 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.
Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister
1945 -2015
Born to lose, lived to win.”
Drummer Mikkey Dee confirmed that the group will not continue without Kilmister:
“Motörhead is over, of course. Lemmy was Motörhead. But the band will live on in the memories of many.”
“We won’t be doing any more tours or anything. And there won’t be any more records. But the brand survives, and Lemmy lives on in the hearts of everyone.”
He was terribly gaunt, he spent all his energy on stage and afterwards he was very, very tired. It’s incredible that he could even play, that he could finish the Europe tour. It was only 20 days ago. Unbelievable.”“It feels fantastic that we were able to complete the tour with him. It’s heartening that we didn’t cancel because of Lemmy. I’m incredibly grateful over the years we had, and that we had such a good time together.”
Band manager Todd Singerman has also provided some information regarding the situation:
“Nobody had any idea, we just learned Saturday, two days ago, that he even had cancer, and the doctor told him he had between two to six months to live. He [died] today as I was making calls to Phil and Mikkey, telling them to come on out so they could have a last goodbye while he was still upbeat and everything. He was feeling mighty low… He wasn’t expected to die like that.”
“He gets home, we have a big birthday party for him at the Whisky A Go Go. A bunch of his friends came down and played. Two days later, like I said, he wasn’t feeling good, so we took him to the hospital and they release him, then after the brain scan they found the cancer in his brain and his neck, so that was the first day. We didn’t even know that yet. That was the day we took him and then all of a sudden the doctor comes with the result a couple of days later and says ‘here’s what this is and it’s terminal.’
I gotta tell ya that one of all things caught everybody by surprise, that was the was the last thing we thought he’d ever have. I mean when you think about it, he’s been to every doctor and hospital around the world and nobody caught that, I mean nobody.”
