Motorhead‘s original guitarist Larry Wallis has died at the age of 70.
No cause of death is yet known for Wallis, who was also a member of The Pink Fairies and an in-house producer for Stiff Records.
Wallis had already played in several leading prog and metal bands when he helped form Motorhead in 1975.
The guitarist had befriended Lemmy when his previous band Pink Fairies had regularly played with the singer’s band Hawkwind.
Wallis wrote and co-wrote four songs on Motorhead’s debut album ‘On Parole’, but left in anger when the band’s record company refused to release it. The album was eventually released in 1979, by which time Motorhead had gone on to be a success.
After leaving Motorhead, Wallis rejoined Pink Fairies and also became a producer for Stiff Records, the home of Madness and Ian Dury And The Blockheads. Most notably, Wallis produced two albums for punk singer Wreckless Eric.
Between 1977 and 1991, Wallis released solo singles ‘Police Car’ and ‘Leather Forever’ and the EP ‘Truth, Justice And A Wholesome Packed Lunch’. His only solo album ‘Death In The Guitarfternoon’ was released in 2001.
After Pink Fairies split in 1987, Wallis released three albums with The Deviants.
Wallis got his start in music in 1970 with Shagrat, the band singer Steve Took formed when he left Tyrannosaurus Rex. He went on to play with UFO and Bloodwyn Pig before forming Motorhead.