The hard-living front man of British heavy metal band Motorhead, Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister, has died of cancer aged 70.

“Our mighty, noble friend Lemmy passed away today after a short battle with an extremely aggressive cancer,” the band said on its official Facebook page.

Although he had bouts of illness earlier this year that forced the band to cancel gigs, he had only learnt of the disease on Dec 26, two days after his birthday, the band said.

“We cannot begin to express our shock and sadness, there aren’t words,” it said.

Lemmy roared the vocals on their most famous song, the 1980 hit, ‘Ace of Spades’.

He was born in Stoke on Trent in north-western England in 1945.

Lemmy was a member of the space-rock group Hawkwind from 1972-75, and founded the group Motorhead in 1975, playing bass and singing in a band in which he was the only constant member.

Fellow hard rocker Ozzy Osborne paid tribute on Twitter: “Lost one of my best friends, Lemmy, today. He will be sadly missed. He was a warrior and a legend. I will see you on the other side.”

Motorhead recently cancelled some concerts due to Lemmy’s other health problems.

Renowned for his hard-rock lifestyle, he had recently cut back on his cigarette consumption and switched from drinking whiskey to vodka in an apparent attempt to control his diabetes.

The band had been due back on tour in January.

- dpa