Motörhead leader Lemmy Kilmister could be honoured with statue in Stoke-On-Trent birthplace

(Image credit: Michael Putland/Getty Images)

Motörhead singer/bassist Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister could be honoured with a statue in his birthplace of Burslem, Stoke-On-Trent, it has been reported.

Lemmy formed Motörhead in 1975 after his exit from space rockers Hawkwind. He led the band for 40 years before dying on December 28, 2015, four days after his 70th birthday and two days after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The BBC reports that, if the proposed statue gets approved by Stoke-On-Trent City Council, it will be erected in Burslem’s Market Place.

Local sculptor Andy Edwards would make the statue, which is planned to depict Lemmy as he looked during Motörhead’s early days, playing bass in front of a microphone.

The statue would stand on an eight-foot (2.5m) plinth, which would feature the Motörhead mascot, Snaggletooth, with the name “Lemmy” and the band’s slogan: “Born to lose, live to win”.

Lemmy was born in Burslem on Christmas Eve 1945, though his family soon moved to Newcastle-Under-Lyme and, later, Wales, where the musician spent much of his childhood.

Motörhead’s self-titled debut album was released in 1977 and, despite receiving apathetic reviews at the time, reached number 43 in the UK album charts. The band later reached number one on the chart with their 1981 live album, No Sleep ’Til Hammersmith.

In 2014, Classic Rock interviewed Lemmy about the mainstream music industry embracing Motörhead in the band’s later years.

“They do NOW,” the musician told journalist Scott Rowley.

“After the last two years, yeah. I get all sorts of people coming up to me saying, ‘I love your band,’ and I know half of them have never listened to them. I think they like the image, you know. Bad boy image.”

Motörhead disbanded following Lemmy’s death in 2015, but the band are still putting out posthumous releases. Their latest live album, The Löst Tapes Vol. 4 (Live In Madrid 1995), came out on December 24, 2022 (what would have been Lemmy’s 77th birthday) via BMG.

Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.