(Adds details, background)
Dec 28 (Reuters) - Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister, the hard-living,
hell-raising frontman for British heavy metal band Motorhead,
has died at age 70 after recently being diagnosed with an
aggressive cancer, the band said on its Facebook (O:FB) page on Monday.
On stage with Motorhead, the bassist and vocalist was famed
for turning his amplifiers up to the max, and tilting his face,
dotted with moles and framed by muttonchops, up to the sky. He
growled into his raised microphone with a throat he said he fed
for decades with a bottle a day of Jack Daniel's whiskey.
"You know I'm born to lose, and gambling's for fools, but
that's the way I like it baby, I don't wanna live forever," went
his signature song, the 1980s anthem "Ace of Spades."
The hard living - including years of amphetamine use - had
taken its toll and Lemmy struggled with a number of health
issues in recent years.
In 2013, the band canceled European summer festival
appearances after he reportedly suffered a hematoma, and he told
Rolling Stone magazine in 2014 he had seriously cut back on his
drinking and smoking.
"We cannot begin to express our shock and sadness, there
aren't words," Motorhead said in its Facebook posting about
Lemmy's death. "We will say more in the coming days, but for
now, pleaseplay Motörhead loud, play Hawkwind loud, play
Lemmy's music LOUD. Have a drink or few."
HENDRIX'S ROADIE
After cutting his teeth in beat bands in the 1960s, he spent
time as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix before his first taste of
stardom with British space rockers Hawkwind, singing the band's
biggest hit, biker anthem Silver Machine, in 1972.
During his stint in the band, Lemmy's pummeling bass lines
became a stock-in-trade and provided the backbone of the
ear-splitting Motorhead, which he formed in 1975 after being
thrown out of Hawkwind following a drug bust in Canada.
After a bumpy start and early lineup changes, the trio of
Lemmy, guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke and drummer Phil "Philthy
Animal" Taylor, tore through a string of albums that fed off the
energy of punk rock and helped inspire thrash metal.
Between early 1979 and late 1980, "Overkill," "Bomber" and
"Ace of Spades" sent the band racing toward the upper reaches of
the British album charts. In 1981, Motorhead finally hit No. 1
with its live classic, "No Sleep 'til Hammersmith."
Lemmy, who was born in England in 1945, lived in Los
Angeles, near the Sunset Strip, for decades and was
controversial for his collection of Nazi memorabilia.
Motorhead recorded 22 studio albums.
(Reporting and writing by Fiona Ortiz in Chicago and Dave
Graham in Mexico City; Editing by Sandra Maler and Peter Cooney)