article: He was also something of a rock legend, his mutton-chop whiskers, facial wart and high microphone position making him one of the most recognisable figures in the business. He is credited with introducing punk sounds into the heavy metal mix, paving the way for a generation of thrash metal and speed metal followers. Offstage he gained a reputation for a prodigious intake of drugs and alcohol as well as a sex life as frantic as his music. Lemmy was born Ian Fraser Kilmister in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, on 24 December 1945. His father, a former chaplain in the Royal Air Force, separated from his mother when Lemmy was just three months old. "I don't recall what my first word was," he later told the Seattle Times. "But it was very loud." Tributes paid to Motorhead frontman The young Kilmister acquired the nickname Lemmy while at school, although he purported to have no idea where it came from. It was later suggested that it referred to his constant pleas to "Lemmy a quid until Friday," as he struggled to service a growing addiction to slot machines. His mother remarried when he was 10 and the family moved to north Wales, where Lemmy completed his schooling and took on a number of jobs including a stint at a local washing machine factory. Having become enamoured of a girl from Stockport who was holidaying in the area, he followed her back to her hometown and became involved in the local music scene. He spread his wings with a band called The Rockin' Vickers, who released three singles and rocked the Manchester music scene while dressed in clerical gear. Lemmy moved to London in search of fame and fortune, where he had a stint as a roadie with Jimi Hendrix and briefly played in progressive rock band Opal Butterfly. In 1972 he was recruited as bassist for the space-rock band Hawkwind, despite having played only rhythm guitar before. It helped him develop a distinct style of bass playing, which added a great deal to Hawkwind's sound. He also sang lead vocals on the band's biggest hit, Silver Machine, after a previous effort by the band's usual vocalist was deemed too weak. "It sounded like Captain Kirk reading Blowing in the Wind," Lemmy later recalled. "They tried everybody singing it except me. Then, as a last shot they said, 'Try Lemmy.' And I did it in one take or two." Lemmy's tenure with Hawkwind ended abruptly when he was busted for drug possession on a tour of Canada in 1975. He later claimed that his dismissal was due to 'pharmaceutical differences', his preference for amphetamines being in stark contrast to the rest of Hawkwind's love of more hallucinogenic substances. Despite the falling-out, Lemmy had fond memories of his time with the band. "In Hawkwind I became a good bass player," he told Classic Rock magazine in 2012. "It was where I learned I was good at something." Lemmy decided to form his own band, "so that no-one can fire me again", and adopted the name Bastard, until it
summary: Lemmy, who has died aged 70 after being diagnosed with cancer, was the frontman and only constant member of Motorhead, one of the loudest bands in rock music.