LONDON — Andy Rourke, bass guitarist of The Smiths, one of the most influential British bands of the Nineteen Eighties, has died after a long sickness with pancreatic most cancers, his former bandmate Johnny Marr mentioned Friday. He was once 59.
In a long post on Instagram, guitarist and songwriter Marr paid tribute to Rourke, who he first met when each have been schoolboys in 1975.
“Throughout our teens we played in various bands around south Manchester before making our reputations with The Smiths from 1982 to 1987, and it was on those Smiths records that Andy reinvented what it is to be a bass guitar player,” Marr said.
During their short time together as a four-piece band, The Smiths deliberately stayed away from the mainstream of popular music, garnering a cult following on the independent music scene.
Though much of the attention focused on the song-writing partnership of Marr and frontman Steven Patrick Morrissey, better known as Morrissey, the sound of The Smiths owed much to Rourke’s bass and his rhythm section partner, drummer Mike Joyce.
As their popularity swelled, the band released some of the most enduring British music of the 1980s, including “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” and “Girlfriend In A Coma.”
The Smiths songs garnered a reputation of being depressing, but were in fact darkly humorous and accompanied by stirring and uplifting guitars. Their albums, including “The Queen is Dead” and “Meat is Murder,” remain a staple of any self-respecting music fan and are at the forefront of the revival of vinyl records.
“I was present at every one of Andy’s bass takes on every Smiths session,” Marr said. “Sometimes I was there as the producer and sometimes just as his proud mate and cheerleader. Watching him play those dazzling baselines was an absolute privilege and genuinely something to behold.”
Marr mentioned he and Rourke maintained their friendship within the years after the band cut up up, recalling that Rourke performed in his band at Madison Square Garden as just lately as September 2022.
“It was a special moment that we shared with my family and his wife and soul mate Francesca,” Marr mentioned. “Andy will all the time be remembered, as a sort and lovely soul by means of everybody who knew him, and as a supremely talented musician by means of individuals who love tune. Well carried out Andy. We’ll leave out you brother.”
After The Smiths, Rourke performed along The Pretenders and Sinead O’Connor, in addition to with the supergroup Freebass, which incorporated Gary Mounfield from the (*59*) Roses and Peter Hook from New Order.
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