A London coroner has set out, in plain medical terms, how the guitarist who anchored Motörhead’s sound for three decades died after a run of operations he could not avoid.
Phil Campbell, the Welsh musician who played in Motörhead from 1984 until the band disbanded in 2015, died of multi-organ failure brought on by complications from operations he needed, a coroner concluded at an inquest that closed at St Pancras Coroner’s Court on Friday, Oct. 2, 2026. Campbell was 64 when he died in the hospital on March 13.
Dr. Richard Brittain, the coroner, recorded the cause of death as multi-organ failure. He determined that the surgery Campbell underwent had been necessary and that the complications that followed sat within the known risks of those procedures.
“My view is that there is nothing here to suggest his death could have been prevented,” Brittain said.
The Second Transplant Worked
Surgeons at the Royal Free Hospital in London performed bowel surgery and two liver transplants on the guitarist earlier in 2026, the court heard. The second transplant was a success, and then further complications set in.
Campbell was moved to intensive care after the bowel surgery, and his condition deteriorated rapidly. Hepatitis C had been among his illnesses, the inquest heard, and it had been treated. He had drunk alcohol to excess in the past, the inquest heard, though he had been sober for seven years by the time he died.
Coroners convene inquests of this kind in cases of sudden or unexplained death, and hear them in the district where the death occurred. The hearing gave the family a plain medical account and the coroner’s judgment that nothing could have changed the outcome.
The Grandfather They Called Bampi
He canceled shows in February because of health problems. His family announced his death in March 2026 on Instagram, saying he had spent a long period in intensive care following major surgery.
The family remembered him as a devoted husband, father and grandfather, known within the family as “Bampi.”
“His legacy, music and the memories he created with so many will live on forever,” the family said.
Motörhead praised him as a guitarist, writer, performer and musician. His bandmates also recalled how funny he was and how hungry he had been for life, saying the world had lost an enormous beam of light and that they were devastated.
Second Only to Lemmy
The Pontypridd-born guitarist joined Motörhead in 1984 and stayed to the end. Only bassist and singer Lemmy Kilmister, born Ian Kilmister, spent longer in the band, which left Campbell its second longest-serving member. Kilmister founded the group in 1975, and his death in December 2015 ended it.
Campbell played on every Motörhead album from 1986’s “Orgasmatron” through 2015’s “Bad Magic.” The band had already helped pioneer heavy metal in Britain before he arrived, with top 10 albums in 1980’s “Ace of Spades,” 1981’s “No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith” and 1982’s “Iron Fist.”
The lineup he stepped into in 1984 also included guitarist Mick “Wurzel” Burston and drummer Pete Gill, alongside Kilmister.
Back on the Road With His Sons
Campbell did not retreat when Motörhead ended. His sons Todd, Dane and Tyla joined him in the studio and on tour as Phil Campbell and the B****d Sons. That late-career second act kept him on the road into his 60s.
His children have continued with the B****d Sons since his death.