He “passed away peacefully last night following a long and courageous battle in intensive care”, a statement on his Instagram account says. The text is accompanied by a photo of Campbell and his wife. “He was deeply loved by all who knew him and will be missed immensely”, the post reads. Knowledge of Campbell’s health issues had previously not been fully disclosed to the public.

Raised in Wales, he lived in Pontypridd until his death. He began playing guitar in his teenage years, becoming fond of a classic Les Paul shape, forming his first heavy metal band, Persian Risk, in 1979 at the peak of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. A version of Persian Risk without Campbell are still together and touring.

Campbell found success in Motörhead in 1984, joining after the departure of former Thin Lizzy axeman Brian Robertson on the heels of the album ‘Another Perfect Day’, controversial at the time for its broader musical appeal. The band had decided to proceed with two guitarists rather than their usual one, and thus Campbell made his name alongside Michael “Würzel” Burston, who left in 1995. Campbell’s first public appearance coincided with drummer Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor’s last on the revolutionary British sitcom The Young Ones, performing the enduring hit ‘Ace of Spades’.

Campbell proceeded to play on every following Motörhead album between 1986’s surprisingly heavy ‘Orgasmatron’ and their last record, 2015’s ‘Bad Magic’, which was marred by frontman Lemmy Kilmister’s death just four months after release.

In the wake of Lemmy’s death, Motörhead disbanded and Campbell formed Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons with three of his sons. The band had a string of notable albums beginning with 2018’s ‘The Age of Absurdity’, covering other bands and releasing original music, supporting acts like Saxon and Guns N’ Roses on the road. No statement has yet been made in regards to the band’s future.

Despite Motörhead’s legacy of rockstar excess with constant touring aided by a diet of alcohol and drugs, which continued up to Lemmy’s 2015 passing, Campbell lived a relatively austere life when at home. Speaking of continuing to live in Pontypridd, he said that “I’m not going to die broke, but I’m not rich. I pay taxes [in the U.S.], but I’m not a citizen — they won’t give me citizenship. I got busted for two sleeping pills on New Year’s Eve in 1971, so, obviously, I’m a threat to the kids in America, you know.”

In that statement that announced his death, Campbell’s family said that, on a personal level, “Phil was a devoted husband, a wonderful father, and a proud and loving grandfather, known affectionately as ‘Bampi.’” He seemed to find more content in domesticity than his former singer did, with Lemmy frequently declaring his opposition to the institution of marriage.

The album will be released on 27 June, revealing the first-ever recordings from the band.

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The recordings came to be when the band rehearsed 11 tracks at Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s Manticore Studio alongside Ron Faucus. The tapes were lost after their creation but have since been restored by Cameron Webb and mastered by Andrew Alekel for the band’s 50th anniversary.

Though the tracks haven’t been revealed in full, many are confirmed to be early versions of songs from their debut self-titled album. The early recordings give an exciting insight into the formation of the band’s classic hard rock/metal sound. The band shared the initial recording of their hit single ‘Motörhead’ alongside the upcoming album release. The video showcases the song with a playful rocky experimental beat and raw vocals from Kilmister before its studio release in 1977. The song was originally created by Kilmister while he was a part of space rock band Hawkwind in 1969 with its recording for Motörhead giving the song its hard rock sound. 

Motörhead are known for their daring speed-metal hits such as ‘Ace of Spades’ from the ‘Ace Of Spades’ album, which peaked at number 4 on the Official UK Albums Chart, and ‘Fast As A Shark’ from 1982 album ‘Restless And Wild’. Their upcoming album ‘The Manticore Tapes’ will give a moving recognition to their journey towards the sound that fans adore to this day. 

Last night (8 May), the band celebrated the 50th anniversary at The Rainbow, California’s notable hangout spot for rock artists by the likes of Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin and Ritchie Blackmore. In April 2024, Kilmister’s ashes were preserved at The Rainbow Bar & Grill where fans were invited to honour the rockstar with a free sampling of the band’s new Motörhead Whiskey.  

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The band’s legendary rock status has been commemorated in the metal/rock scene and worldwide. Following Kilmister’s passing in 2015, a bust of the artist was placed at Bloodstock Festival alongside unique personal items such as his hat, his last jar of Marmite and his Milky Way bars from the band’s final tour in 2015. Similarly a statue in tribute to the artist will be revealed this year in his hometown, Stoke-on-Trent. This statue will contain the rock icon’s ashes.

 ‘The Manticore Tapes’ can be pre-ordered here alongside new merch from the band. 

The festival has also constructed a replica of Lemmy’s dressing room, complete with a shower cap over a smoke alarm and a sticker saying, “harassing me about my smoking may be hazardous for your health.” This special tribute includes personal items such as his hat, coat, boots, photographs, and even his last jar of Marmite and Milky Way bars from the band’s final tour in 2015.

Lemmy Kilmister, born Ian Fraser Kilmister, was the vocalist and bassist of Motörhead, known for his gravelly voice, distinctive mutton chops, and outspoken egalitarian messages. Lemmy died on December 28 2015, only weeks after a diagnosis of cancer. It was revealed the following year that the singer’s official cause of death was prostate cancer, along with congestive heart failure and cardiac arrhythmia. Despite his illness, Lemmy continued to perform until just weeks before his passing. Bloodstock Festival director Vicky Hungerford told BBC Radio Derby, “When you go in there, it will feel like you’re in the touring dressing room of Lemmy.” The display also features a traveling slot machine that Lemmy took everywhere, his reading glasses, and his credit card. On Monday, after the event at Catton Hall, a troupe of 30 Harley Davidsons bikers will transport the bust to Rock City, a gig venue in Nottingham. This venue holds a special place in Motörhead’s history, having hosted many of their shows between 1987 and 2006. The ashes will remain on public display at Rock City, with the urn containing Lemmy’s ashes returning to Bloodstock festival every year.

“Lemmy would want to be remembered as a man of integrity, and a true rock’n’roller,” says @myMotorhead star Phil Campbell. “He was a one off.”

Phil Campbell caught up with Sky News ahead of Bloodstock to talk #LemmyForever https://t.co/aZeLL9dXXw

— bloodstockfest (@BLOODSTOCKFEST) August 7, 2024

As part of the tribute, there is also a replica Lancaster bomber at the festival, which was suspended above the stage during Motörhead’s 1979 Bomber tour. Speaking to BBC Radio Derby Bloodstock festival director Vicky Hungerford expressed her honour at being approached by Motörhead management to have Lemmy’s ashes at the festival. She said: “we were humbled and honoured to be approached by Motörhead management to have Lemmy’s ashes at Bloodstock. This tribute is a fitting way to celebrate Lemmy’s legacy and his significant impact on the heavy metal community.”

 

 

 

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In April, more of Lemmy’s ashes were enshrined at the Rainbow Bar & Grill on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. This venue also boasts a patio named ‘Lemmy’s Lounge’. Last summer, more of his ashes were scattered in the mud at Germany’s Wacken Open Air festival to commemorate Motörhead’s countless shows there. Metallica’s James Hetfield has even had some of the ashes incorporated into a spade tattoo on his middle finger.

Motörhead manager Todd Singerman also shared a statement: “Bloodstock has always been a special place for Motörhead and for Lemmy. The people and the energy matched Lemmy’s values perfectly. This is definitely a fitting honour in the continuing series of enshrinements of Lemmy’s ashes in his most loved places.”

The two rock legends were close friends. Lemmy also co-wrote some of the songs for Ozzy’s solo album.

Osbourne said about Lemmy: “I’m good at starting lyrics, but I can’t finish them. And he’d go – he’d write a bunch of lyrics for my songs – ‘Mama, I’m Coming Home’. So, I’d give him a tape, and I had this book on World War II. I haven’t read it and I told him, ‘Tell me what you think. And I have a bunch of these lyrics – whenever you can…’ I’m thinking, it’s gonna be a week. And he says, ‘Come back in about four hours.’ So I got back, and he goes, ‘What do you think about these?’ And I go, ‘Oh, great.’ He then goes, ‘What about these?’ I go, ‘Oh, you got two…?”.

“He was a speed-reader! He could read really fast. He was amazing! You look at people like Lemmy and you think, ‘Oh, he’s a yob [a rude, noisy, and aggressive young person].’ But he was very well-educated” – Ozzy added. You can listen to and watch it below.

Lemmy Kilmister died in 2015 of prostate cancer, just four days after his 70 birthday and not long after Motörhead’s last tour. The band’s drummer Mikkey Dee said: “We played the last show the 11th of December [of 2015] in Berlin, and he passed just [two] weeks later. And that tells you, the guy died with his boots on. And both me and [guitarist] Phil [Campbell] were trying to talk him out of starting the second part of the European tour after Christmas. But there was no way in hell we could do that”.

Ozzy also recalled his last conversation with Lemmy: “I’d phone him up; somebody said he was not gonna make it, so I phoned him and I put him on the phone. And I couldn’t make out what he was saying. It was terrible”. Singer continued: “I flew down to South America with him about six months before, and he looked terribly thin and gowned, and my heart broke for him”.

Motörhead music continues to be immortal. The band’s album from 1982 ‘No Sleep Til Hammersmith’ will be reissued in June for the 40th anniversary and its available to pre-order here.

The world lost the raspy-voiced icon on 28th December 2015 after he tragically lost his battle to cancer, just four days after the singer’s 70th Birthday. His funeral service held in Los Angeles at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills was live-streamed on YouTube with over 230,000 fans watching to pay their respects.

Riki Rachtman, the former host of MTV’s ‘Headbangers Ball’ from 1990-1995, was one of the lucky few who received one of the golden bullets with his friend’s ashes inside. He recently took to Twitter to display his bullet and thank his friend.

Before his death #Lemmy asked for his ashes to be put in some bullets & handed out to his closest friends Today I received a bullet & was literally brought to tears Thank you @myMotorhead pic.twitter.com/gnI9aWe4iU

— Rev. Riki Rachtman (@RikiRachtman) March 22, 2021

Lemmy had become a symbol of hard living and hard rock n roll during his life and is most remembered as singer and bassist for British rockers ‘Motörhead’. Originally named ‘Bastard’, Lemmy decided to change the name to ‘Motörhead’, which was the name of the last song he had written for ‘Hawkwind’. Forming ‘Motörhead’ in 1975, Lemmy previously was the bassist and vocalist for the band ‘Hawkwind’, famed for their number three hit ‘Silver Machine’. Lemmy was soon kicked out of ‘Hawkwind’ due to a drug arrest In May 1975 whilst on tour in Canada. ‘Motörhead’ would go on to release one of rock’s most popular song, ‘Ace of Spades’ in October 1980. The single would bring the band popularity and immense success, at the time of Lemmy’s death, the single had sold over 208,830 digital copies.

In 2010 a documentary about the icon was released under the name, ‘Lemmy’, and the documentary’s director Greg Oliver has revealed that a new biopic about the singer will be released. After a couple of years in the making, Lemmy fans have been looking forward to the new biopic for a while, with production started early of this year.

The film will follow Lemmy’s life, from his early days when he was Jimi Hendrix’s roadie to his four-year stint in ‘Hawkwind’. It also promises to show the side of Lemmy which existed beneath the hard rocker exterior. Oliver recently had this to say about the biopic in a statement released last year.

“Everything you’ve heard about Lemmy is probably true … not because he was embracing rock n’ roll clichés, but because he was creating them, Marlboro Reds and Jack Daniel’s for breakfast, speed for dinner – all true But behind that steely-eyed façade of Rock’n’Roll was also a compelling, complicated and lion-hearted man who stayed the course and never gave up playing the music that made him happy. We’ve been carefully developing this biopic since 2013, making sure to stay true to Lemmy, Motörhead band members Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee, and all the other folks that played important roles in Lemmy’s life. This will be a film they’ll be proud of.”

The film features a great crew consisting of Andre Relis and Domon Lane as producers, as well as ‘Motörhead’s’ manager, Todd Singerman, working as an executive producer with Steffan Chirazi and written by Medeni Griffiths and Greg Oliver. With a credible source such as Singerman, the biopic is sure to capture all of the mayhem and great music which Lemmy lived by and left for the world.

Photo credit: Raymond Flotat

“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 its way down the street, with his family.”

We cannot begin to express our shock and sadness, there aren’t words.”

Mötorhead are of course one of the most genre defining bands out there and were instrumental in the initial mainstream rock and roll movement. It is still unsure whether or not Mötorhead will continue, as it is very very difficult to imagine the band existing without Lemmy leading them.

There’s not much more to say on the matter other than that Rock and Roll has lost one of the very few true legends of the genre and music altogether; they just don’t make them like Lemmy anymore. Please listen to perhaps Mötorhead’s most famous song below and in the words of Lemmy’s band members and friends:

“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.”

Lemmy went on to say ” it would’ve disappointed me to go out, play some average shows and watch my health give way long before the tour was over! When people come to see a Motörhead tour, they expect a Motörhead show, and that is exactly what you will get as soon as I am fit and ready to rumble.”

Motorhead had to cancel the remainder of their European tour earlier this year after Lemmy was reported to have been suffering from a haematoma, and it was revealed that he had been fitted with a defibrillator due to an ongoing cardiac condition.

The November tour is to support their latest release, Aftershock, which came out in September. Luckily for fans, tickets that have already been purchased will still be valid when the tour is set to restart in February.

“Motörhead rocked the Black Stage for more than 30 minutes and Lemmy gave everything he´s got to play an amazing live show,” they said. He´s keeping well – but the temperatures and circumstances led to the point that continuing the show would have led to a loss of quality. We are very happy and proud that Phil, Mikkey and particularly Mr. Rock n’ Roll himself, Lemmy Kilmister, played W:O:A 2013 and that they did everything humanly possible to play this gig. Thank you so much, guys!”

Motörhead had to stop after six songs after Lemmy was unable to continue. In June it was revealed that he had a defibrilator to correct heart problems, and suffered a haematoma shortly after. The band have cancelled tour dates in November but are still planning on releasing their new album, Aftershock, in September.