Lemmy’s Closest Friends Reflect On How The Motörhead Legend Faced Death ‘Like A Champ’

Nearly a decade after the passing of rock and roll’s most immutable icon, the inner circle of Motörhead frontman Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister has opened up about the bassist’s final days in a new exclusive feature for Metal Hammer magazine.

The interviews paint a portrait of a man who faced his own mortality with the same grit and lack of sentimentality that defined his music. Todd Singerman, the band’s longtime manager, offered a poignant account of the moment Lemmy received his terminal cancer diagnosis in December 2015, just days before his death.

“How did he face death? Like a champ,” Singerman told the publication. “When the doctor was at the house and told us, I cried right there. I couldn’t help it. And Lemmy was the one who f**king consoled me.”

According to Singerman, the frontman had a specific vision for his exit, one that he nearly achieved.

“Literally his whole goal was to drop at the last show of the last gig of the last tour,” Singerman said. “He missed it by two weeks. Same with Ozzy. They both died exactly 17 days after their last show.”

When it became clear the end was near, Lemmy‘s crew brought his favorite pastime to him, transporting his beloved arcade machine from the Rainbow Bar & Grill to his home. Saxon frontman Biff Byford, a longtime friend and touring partner, believes Lemmy would have been content with the setting.

“I believe that he wanted to kick the bucket on the road,” Byford said. “But he won’t have been too disappointed by the way things panned out. Playing a f**king videogame. He died as he lived. It was quick, at least.”

Lemmy’s surviving bandmates also weighed in, rejecting the narrative that his death was a catastrophe. Drummer Mikkey Dee emphasized that the life Lemmy led should be celebrated rather than mourned as a misfortune.

“In interviews people would say, ‘It’s such a tragedy.’ I’d say, ‘It’s not a tragedy,'” Dee explained. “It’s sad, but look at it this way: Lemmy lived 70 years on his premise, his way.”

Guitarist Phil Campbell added that had Lemmy survived, Motörhead would undoubtedly still be active today.

“What would he be doing if he was still here? Same thing he always did. We’d be playing in Motörhead,” Campbell stated. “We never talked about the end, we always talked about the next album, the next tour, the next gig, the next song. We’d still be blasting away, like it or not.”

Lemmy’s influence continues to reverberate through the heavy music landscape. Last month saw the release of Killed By Deaf: A Punk Tribute To Motörhead, a compilation featuring covers by Rancid, Pennywise, and The Casualties, honoring the band’s unique ability to bridge the gap between metal and punk.

Killed By Deaf: A Punk Tribute To Motörhead tracklist:

• Pennywise – “Ace of Spades”
• Rancid – “S*x & Death”
• The Bronx – “Over The Top”
• Lagwagon – “Rock ‘N’ Roll”
• Fear – “The Chase Is Better Than The Catch”
• GBH – “Bomber”
• Murphy’s Law – “Stay Clean”
• Slaughterhouse – “Love Me Like A Reptile”
• The Casualties – “The Hammer”
• Anti-Nowhere League – “Born To Raise Hell”
• Love Canal – “Voices In The Sky”
• Soldiers Of Destruction – “Overkill”
• Wisdom In Chains – “Iron Fist”
• Motörhead & The Damned – “Neat Neat Neat”