Burslem · Newcastle · Sunset · 1945–2015
When the band were off the road, Lemmy sat at the end of the Rainbow’s bar, playing the same machine. Put a credit in it and it deals you his places.
Burslem · Benllech · Monmouthshire
Lemmy was born Ian Fraser Kilmister in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, on 24 December 1945. His father, a former RAF chaplain and concert pianist, left when he was three months old; he moved with his mother and grandmother to Newcastle-under-Lyme, then Madeley.
1945 · and May 2025
In May 2025 a statue by the local sculptor Andy Edwards was unveiled on Market Place, with Phil Campbell there.
It shows him with his Rickenbacker bass and his head tilted up to the microphone, and a little of his ashes is in the plinth.
A town square, open any time; the statue stands on Market Place.
1956 on · Anglesey
In 1956 his mother married George Willis, and the family later moved to a farm in Benllech.
He went to Ysgol Syr Thomas Jones in Amlwch, where he was nicknamed Lemmy; he said he never knew where the name came from.
He took his mother’s guitar to school before he could play it. The family moved on to Conwy; he worked odd jobs, including the Hotpoint factory at Llandudno Junction, and played in local bands.
A seaside village on the east coast of Anglesey; the beach is free and open.
1975–76 · near Monmouth
The new band recorded sessions at Rockfield with the producer Dave Edmunds. During them the drummer Lucas Fox was replaced by Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor.
The label refused to release the tapes; they came out as On Parole in 1979, once the band had some success.
On Parole reached number 65 in December 1979, during the Bomber tour.
A working residential studio: see the entrance from Rockfield Road, and don’t go in uninvited.
Ladbroke Grove · Windsor, Ontario · Chalk Farm
In August 1971 Lemmy joined Hawkwind, in Ladbroke Grove, on bass, an instrument he had not played before. He sang lead on Silver Machine, which reached number 3 in the UK in 1972.
Pictured: Lemmy with Hawkwind in St. Louis, 1974.
May 1975 · Windsor, Ontario
In May 1975, on a North American tour, he was arrested at the Canadian border in Windsor for possession; he was held overnight and released without charge.
The band feared it would stop them getting back into the United States and, with his behaviour, fired him.
He said later he would probably still have been in Hawkwind if they had not thrown him out.
A city on the Detroit River; the riverfront park looks across to Detroit and the Ambassador Bridge.
20 July 1975 · Chalk Farm Road
Lemmy’s new band was first called Bastard; told it would never get on Top of the Pops, he renamed it Motörhead, after the last song he wrote for Hawkwind.
Motörhead’s first engagement was supporting Greenslade at the Roundhouse on 20 July 1975.
Lemmy had played here before: Hawkwind’s Greasy Truckers benefit on 13 February 1972, the show Silver Machine came from.
A working arts venue: in with a ticket, and the bar and foyer are open on show days.
Chalk Farm Road, London NW1
The Chalk Farm engine shed where Motörhead played their first gig in July 1975. Check its listings for what’s on.
See what’s onHammersmith · Leeds · Newcastle
The Odeon was often the last stop on their UK tours, which is where the live album’s title comes from. The band did not play it on the tour the album was recorded on. The record was made in Leeds and Newcastle.
Umlaut on. The umlaut may have come from Blue Öyster Cult’s; it does not change how the name is said.
1975
On 19 October 1975, ten gigs in, Motörhead supported Blue Öyster Cult at the Hammersmith Odeon.
For the band’s tenth anniversary they played two nights here, 28 and 29 June 1985; the second was filmed as The Birthday Party.
Now the Eventim Apollo, a working venue: in with a ticket.
28.3.81
The March 1981 run was the Short Sharp Pain in the Neck tour, named after Taylor hurt his neck in after-show horseplay.
Motörhead played the Queens Hall on 28 March 1981; the expanded edition of the album has the whole concert. The sound at Leeds was poor, so most of the original album came from Newcastle.
The hall was an old tram depot; Motörhead complained about the acoustics, and in winter ice formed on the old tramlines. It was demolished in 1989, and Sovereign Square was built on the site in 2015.
The hall is gone. Sovereign Square, on its site by Sovereign Street, is open to walk through.
29–30.3.81
Motörhead played City Hall on 29 and 30 March 1981, and most of No Sleep ’til Hammersmith comes from these nights.
The expanded edition has the full Newcastle concerts and the 30 March soundcheck, labelled apart from the show takes. Backstage at Leeds and Newcastle they were given silver and gold discs for Ace of Spades and Overkill.
Released in June 1981, the album went in at number one in the UK while the band were touring North America with Ozzy Osbourne.
Their first UK show of 2016 was to have been in Newcastle, on 23 January.
A working concert hall: in with a ticket.
London
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Compare toursWest Hollywood · 1990–2015
Lemmy lived in Los Angeles from 1990. For the last two decades of his life he was at the Rainbow every day he was not on tour, often at the machine at the end of the bar.
9015 Sunset Boulevard
On 24 August 2016 a life-size bronze of him by Travis Moore, paid for by fans, was unveiled on the patio.
In May 2025 a statue by the local sculptor Andy Edwards was unveiled on Market Place, with Phil Campbell there.
His memorial service, at Forest Lawn in the Hollywood Hills on 9 January 2016, was streamed; others gathered at the Rainbow to watch.
A working bar and restaurant on the Strip: walk in. The statue is on the patio.
9015 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood
The bar and restaurant at 9015 Sunset Boulevard where Lemmy sat whenever he was home; his bronze is on the patio.
Visit the Rainbow
26–28 December 2015
From 1990 he rented a two-room flat two blocks from the Rainbow. Motörhead’s last show was in Berlin on 11 December 2015, on the 40th anniversary tour.
He learned he had cancer on 26 December. The Rainbow’s owner, Mikael Maglieri, had the machine he liked brought down the street so he could play it from his bedside.
He died at home on 28 December 2015, four days after his 70th birthday.
Named, not mapped. A private home: named, not mapped. The photograph is the Sunset Strip in 1975, for the street only.
Where it is now
Burslem, Anglesey and Rockfield are separate trips. London holds the Roundhouse and Hammersmith; Leeds and Newcastle are on the line north. Windsor faces Detroit across the river, and the Rainbow is on Sunset.
9 places you can visit, from Market Place in Burslem to 9015 Sunset Boulevard. Lemmy’s flat is a private home, so it is named, not mapped.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A town square, open any time; the statue stands on Market Place.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A seaside village on the east coast of Anglesey; the beach is free and open.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working residential studio: see the entrance from Rockfield Road, and don’t go in uninvited.
Market Place, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent
Lemmy was born Ian Fraser Kilmister in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, on 24 December 1945.
A town square, open any time; the statue stands on Market Place.
Benllech, Ynys Môn (the village; the farm is not named)
In 1956 his mother married George Willis, and the family later moved to a farm in Benllech.
A seaside village on the east coast of Anglesey; the beach is free and open.
Rockfield Road, near Monmouth, Monmouthshire
The new band recorded sessions at Rockfield with the producer Dave Edmunds.
A working residential studio: see the entrance from Rockfield Road, and don’t go in uninvited.
Stay
Gardens and a recording studio just below Sunset Boulevard.
1200 Alta Loma Road, West Hollywood, CA 90069 · See the site
Suites and villas in gardens on Alta Loma Road, just below the Strip, with its own Nightbird Recording Studio. Rates are on its booking calendar. Pictured: the Sunset Strip in 1975.
See roomsGo there
The Rainbow, the Roundhouse, and music tours in London and on Sunset.
9015 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood
The bar and restaurant at 9015 Sunset Boulevard where Lemmy sat whenever he was home; his bronze is on the patio.
Visit the RainbowChalk Farm Road, London NW1
The Chalk Farm engine shed where Motörhead played their first gig in July 1975. Check its listings for what’s on.
See what’s onLondon
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Compare toursWest Hollywood
Live marketplace results for tours of the Sunset Strip and Hollywood. Check each itinerary for the Rainbow.
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Compare toursWhat’s on
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Take it home
No Sleep ’til Hammersmith (1981), Ace of Spades (1980) and White Line Fever.
Motörhead · 12-inch LP (West German pressing), 1981
Recorded mostly at Newcastle City Hall in March 1981; a UK number one.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyMotörhead · 12-inch LP, Bronze (UK), 1980
The album the band were given silver and gold discs for backstage in Leeds and Newcastle.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyLemmy Kilmister
Lemmy’s autobiography, published in 2002.
Find the bookDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
10 of 10 places · 12 of 12 Moments
Market Place, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent
Ian Fraser Kilmister is born in Burslem.
A bronze at the Rainbow in 2016, and one in Burslem in 2025.
Benllech, Ynys Môn (the village; the farm is not named)
At school in Amlwch he becomes Lemmy.
Rockfield Road, near Monmouth, Monmouthshire
Sessions with Dave Edmunds, shelved, then released as On Parole.
Chalk Farm Road, Camden, London
Motörhead support Greenslade at the Roundhouse.
45 Queen Caroline Street, Hammersmith, London
Ten gigs in, they open at the Hammersmith Odeon.
Ten years on, two nights at the Odeon, one filmed.
Sovereign Square, Leeds, on the old Queens Hall site
The first of the No Sleep concerts, in an old tram depot.
Northumberland Road, Newcastle upon Tyne
Two nights at City Hall make most of a number-one live album.
Windsor, Ontario, across the river from Detroit (the crossing is not named)
Arrested at the border, released without charge, and fired from Hawkwind.
9015 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood
A daily fixture at the Rainbow whenever he was home.
West Hollywood, two blocks from the Rainbow (a private home; not mapped)
The machine comes to his bedside; he dies at home.
