A statue for Lemmy in his hometown

A large number of fans of Motörhead They found themselves last weekend in the Burslem district of Stoke On Trent, to attend the inauguration of the statue of the local hero and world icon Lemmy kilmisterwho passed away in 2015, a few days after his 70th birthday.

The Motörhead and frontman statue of the Motörhead, 2.25 meters high in bronze created by the Sculptor and Fans of the Andy Edwards, was erected on May 9 in the market place in the center of the city that gave birth to the artist (but where Robbie Williams was also born) and had been “announced” already in 2023.

The statue represents Lemmy as he appeared at the Heavy Metal Holocaust in Port Vale in 1981, singing in a microphone while playing his low Rickenbacker, and contains some of the ashes of the deceased musician, who were escorted by motorcyclists during the ceremony.

“Lemmy was one of us,” said the mayor of Stoke-on-Trent Lyn Sharpe during the ceremony. “Born in Stoke, he has never forgotten his roots. Today, we of the city are proud to honor a son of the city with this magnificent statue”.

The mayor added that, despite having never met Kilmister, he believes that she and the leader of the Motörheads would “agree”, adding: “He liked the party, and I like the party”.

The guitarist of the Motörhead Phil Campbell was among those present at the ceremony he told Stokeontrentlive: “It was a very special event for me. It is the first time that I see the statue of person. And I must say that it is fantastic. The way he is standing there to play his rickenbacker, the clothes he wears, all this really captures his essence. Touching to see such a great participation – added the bandmate – it seemed that there was the whole city, the place was full of people. We realize the impact he had. Now that the statue is there, that inheritance should be immortalized. “” I knew about this statue for months and months – Campbell concluded – and it is fantastic to see it made. Lemmy deserves recognition in his hometown. And now that I have buried some of his ashes, there will always be a part of him “.

Lemmy’s ashes were also scattered at the German metal festival Wacken Open Air and at the beginning of this year they were buried at the Rainbow Bar & Grill in Los Angeles.

In addition, the ashes are kept at the Rock City of Nottingham and the “Entertainment for adults” Club StringFellow in London. Every year they will also be exhibited at the Bloodstock Festival.

However, that of Stoke is the first statue that is dedicated to Lemmy. On June 17, 2022 on the occasion of the opening Hellfest, a historic festival dedicated to Heavy and Hard music that takes place in Clisson, in France another much more impressive work had been inaugurated, about ten meters high made of steel by the French sculptor Caroline Brisse. The statue was commissioned to the artist directly from the organizer of the event, Ben Barboud.

At the inauguration of the work then the historic Motorhead drummer was present Mikkey Dee, which has been playing with the Scorpionswho performed at the Festival the day following the discovery of the work.