British bass player and vocalist, founder and permanent member of the rock band Motorhead Lemmy Kilmister (real name Ian Fraser) was born on December 24, 1945 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England.
Lemmy's father, a British Navy chaplain, divorced his mother when the boy was three years old. When Ian was ten years old, his mother remarried. The family moved to a farm in North Wales. It was during this time that Kilmister developed an interest in rock and roll, girls and horses, and at school the nickname "Lemmy" stuck to him.
After leaving school and moving with his family to Conwy, Lemmy began working at the local Hotpoint factory, where he played guitar in local bands and attended a riding school.
In 1962 Lemmy moved to Stockport where he played in amateur bands. With one of them - The Rockin "Vickers - released several singles and toured Europe.
In 1967, the musician moved to London, worked as a manager at The Jimi Hendrix Experience. In 1968, he joined the band Sam Gopal, with whom he released an album and a single, and then became a member of Opal Butterfly.
In 1971, Lemmy became the bassist for the space rock band Hawkwind. With Lemmy Hawkwind recorded their best records. In 1973, the group's single "Silver Machine" reached the third line of the British chart. The following Hawkwind releases featuring Lemmy consistently hit the Top 20. In 1975, the band released the single Kings Of Speed, which contained the last song written by Lemmy for the band, Motorhead. That same year, Lemmy Kilmister was arrested for smuggling drugs across the border while on tour in support of the band's latest album. The bassist was released on bail, but was fired from Hawkwind.
After leaving Hawkwind, Lemmy decided to form a new band, which he originally wanted to call Bastard, but under pressure from his manager, Lemmy renamed it Motorhead.
Having radically changed the style of music, it was with this group that Lemmy achieved real success and worldwide recognition, becoming one of the "icons" of hard rock. The band reached its peak in the early 1980s when Ace of Spades was certified gold at number four on the UK Singles Chart, and No Sleep 'til Hammersmith's live album reached the top of the charts five days after its release. These albums, along with Overkill and Bomber, cemented Motorhead's reputation as the main British hard rock band of their day.
Lemmy has released 22 studio albums with Motorhead, most recently Bad Magic in 2015.
In 2005, the band won a Grammy for Best Metal Performance for their cover of Metallica's Whiplash.
In March 2010, the documentary film Lemmy was released, which was filmed for three years at the musician's home in Hollywood, as well as on tours around the world.
On December 29, 2015, it became known that Lemmy Kilmister died at the age of 71 from cancer.