Motorhead - Former Motorhead Guitarist Dies

Former Motorhead Guitarist Dies

Former Motorhead guitarist Wurzel has died.

The rocker - whose real name was Michael Burston - died of a heart attack on Saturday (09.07.11) aged 61 while "pouring a Guinness and cracking a joke" - and bassist and lead singer Ian 'Lemmy' Kilmister has lead tributes to the musician, describing him as his "brother".

He said: "Wurzel was my friend and my brother and he's never going to laugh with me again or bitch me out or do anything.

"And that truly and cosmically sucks. RIP Wurz. God speed. Good man."

A statement on the band's website revealed: "Wurz was pouring a Guinness and cracking a joke when he had a heart attack. At least we know he went with a smile.

"It is a cliche to say that words cannot describe how we feel, and in this case, other than ones such as 's**t' and 'awful' and 'very very sad', it is true, they really can't.

"We all shared many many great times together, and what he did for Motörhead is quite simply indelible. As our good friend Steve 'Krusher' Joule said, 'RIP dear Würzel, a rocker and a gentleman'."

Wurzel, from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, joined the 'Ace of Spades' group in 1984 and performed on nine studio albums with the band until 1995.

He got his nickname during his days in the army because colleagues thought he looked like fictional TV character Worzel Gummidge, who was played by Jon Pertwee.

Motorhead dedicated their set at the Sonisphere festival in Knebworth, Southern England, on Sunday (10.07.11) to the guitarist.