Lemmy Kilmister died…

Heavy metal icon and Motörhead frontman Ian Fraser “Lemmy” Kilmister died from cancer on Monday (Dec. 28), the band’s management has confirmed. He was 70. Since founding Motörhead in 1975, Kilmister was the band’s sole constant member, known for his powerful bass playing, gravelly vocals, his massive mutton chops and his seemingly indestructible constitution, which somehow weathered more than 50 years of hard living, hard touring, cigarettes, alcohol and amphetamines. 

The band’s longtime manager Todd Singerman praised Kilmister for mustering the energy to finish the Motörhead’s recent European tour, saying his passing has caught them all by surprise. He said that neither Kilmister nor anyone on his team knew the rock star had cancer until just a few days ago.

Kilmister’s health issues caused Motörhead to cancel or cut short several shows on the band’s fall U.S. tour, citing “altitude issues” at the time. Kilmister was a diabetic and in 2013 suffered a hematoma.

Kilmister was famously gruff, quick with his fists and did not suffer fools lightly, but for every story of his badassedness, there were others of him taking the time to sign autographs, make sure his opening acts got decent time for their sets, or giving a thoughtful interviews to young rock writers (including this one, several times, many years ago).

“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,” Motörhead said in a statement posted to Facebook. “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.”

Source: Billboard