Biographic - Sunday December 9, 2007 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Indie music pioneers the Smiths formed in 1982 in Manchester, England, when singer and lyricist Morrissey (Born Steven Patrick Morrissey in 1959), an aspiring writer who had briefly fronted local punk bands, teamed up with Guitar player Johnny Marr (Born John Maher in 1963). Recruiting Mike Joyce on drums and Andy Rourke on bass, after jettisoning original bassist Dale Hibbert, the group signed to U.K. Indie label hearing aid and a bunch of gladioli in his back pocket- and the dark humor of his lyrics helped set The Smiths apart from their contemporaries, and they soon established a loyal following. By 1985, the band was topping the U.K. album charts and making inroads in the U.S. but 1986 brought problems. A lengthy dispute with their U.K record label was followed by the dismissal of Andy Rourke. although he was soon invited back into the fold, the rot had set in and in 1987 Johnny Marr quit, effectively killing off the band. Marr re-emerged alongside New Order's bernard sumner and the Pet Shop Boys in Electronic, and then went on to work with everyone from Bryan Ferry Mouse in 2006, with whom he enjoyed his first U.S> chart-topping album. Joyce has played with the likes of The Buzzcocks, while Rourke, who now works as an Order and Primal Scream's Mani in Freebass, Morrissey's solo career has seen him regulatory top the U.K album charts, and he remains a cult icon in the U.S. particularly among Latino fans. Although offered fortunes to reform, the closest The Smiths have come so far to a reunion was a legal dispute between themselves in the mid-'90s over unpaid royalties.

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