For 30 years, I was away nine months of the year. My wife kept our family together

The Age

26-07-2025

This story is part of the July 27 edition of Sunday Life. See all 14 stories.
Musician Phil Campbell, who spent three decades playing guitar in the band Motörhead, can thank his mother, Luisa, for setting him on the path to his destiny. Here, the 64-year-old talks about the important women in his life, including his wife, Gaynor, with whom he has three adult sons.
My maternal Italian grandmother, Rosa Pinchiaroli, was born in Italy and came to Wales in her 20s. She used to live next door to us in her later years, and we'd take care of her. I used to visit her every day – she is the only grandparent I knew. She passed away when I was in my 20s.
My mum, Luisa, was partially blind for most of her life. She was knocked on the head at 12 and had vision problems ever since. She had more than 20 operations to reattach her retina. My father, Jack, looked after her a lot. She was one of three sisters.
My aunty Pina lived in Milan, while aunty Rita had an Italian cafe in South Wales. We'd visit Rita a lot; her sons still come to see my band play sometimes.
Mum played the piano a little, and used to let me go to gigs in London when I was very young. I was 12 when I met Lemmy [Kilmister, founder of Motorhead], who was playing with Hawkwind at the time. He was the only one in the band who came out to sign my program. If Mum didn't let me go to that gig, I would have missed that opportunity. Ten years later, I joined Motorhead.
I never heard Mum swear or say a bad word. She was very religious; we'd all go to church regularly.
She always had a set of rosary beads and would pray. Mum died of Alzheimer's when I was on tour. She was aged in her 70s. My father died five years later.
I have a sister, Jeanette, 15 years older than me, and a brother Steve – 13 years younger. I was brought up like an only child for most of my childhood. My sister used to take care of me when Mum was back and forth from hospital. Jeanette now lives next door to me – our gardens are joined.
Mrs Rimmer taught me music at school. She was encouraging, whereas other teachers gave up on me. I was allowed to go in the music room and play guitar. Mrs Rimmer was the one who took our folk group at school to the Eisteddfod in North Wales. It was a great experience.
I was more interested in music and guitars than girls when I was young. I dated a few different girls while I was at school, but in my era, that meant you asked a girl to a dance. I didn't dance; I would just stand there all night.