As you well know, rock legend
Lemmy Kilmister passed away in December 2015 at age 70. At the time, the estate of the
Motorhead frontman was estimated to be worth north of $8 million. However, records newly released by a London probate office suggest that Lemmy was only worth around $646,000 at the time of his death. That's a princely sum to me, but seems way low for one Lemmy Kilmister.
According to the
Mirror, many are wondering what happened to the rocker's fortune, the remains of which will seemingly go to his son, music producer Paul Inder. Lemmy spent his last years living alone in an apartment in West Hollywood, California.
Funny that this news should come out now, because literally three days ago I heard Ozzy's 1991 hit song "Mama, I'm Coming Home" on the radio and looked it up on Google to see who actually wrote it; to my ears, it didn't seem like something Ozzy had written. Interestingly, it was co-written by Ozzy, Zakk Wylde, and Lemmy. My immediate reaction was that Wylde probably made most of whatever money he has from that one writing credit. As it turns out, so did Lemmy. Years ago he said this:
"Just after I moved to the States, Sharon [Osbourne] rang up and said, 'Can you write four songs for me,' and made me an offer I couldn't refuse. One of them was 'Mama I'm Coming Home'. I made more money out of those four songs than I did in 15 years with Motorhead."
Funny how that works. As legendary as Motorhead is, they never had a platinum record, and the success of "Mama, I'm Coming Home," dwarfed that of Motorhead's biggest hit, "Ace of Spades."
Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if Bring Me The Horizon frontman Oli Sykes has more money than Lemmy had. Lol.
Regardless, I suppose that Lemmy's beneficiaries will be alright, as royalties from Motorhead's extensive catalog will bring in steady rent checks for years to come.
Oh well. RIP, Lemmy.
