LONDON (AP) — Andy Rourke, bassist for The Smiths, one of the most influential British bands of the 1980s, has died after a long illness with pancreatic cancer, his former bandmate Johnny Marr said Friday.
He was 59 years old.
In a lengthy Instagram post, guitarist and songwriter Marr paid tribute to Rourke, whom he met when they were both kids at school in 1975.
“Throughout our teens we played in various bands around south Manchester before making our name with The Smiths from 1982 to 1987, and it was on those Smiths records that Andy reinvented what it is to be a bassist,” said Marr.
During their brief time together as a four-piece band, The Smiths deliberately stayed away from the mainstream of popular music, garnering a cult following in the independent music scene.
Although much of the attention focused on the songwriting partnership of Marr and frontman Steven Patrick Morrissey, better known as Morrissey, The Smiths’ sound owed much to the bass guitar of Rourke and his fellow rhythm section, the Drummer Mike Joyce.
As their popularity rose, the band released some of the most enduring British songs of the 1980s, including «Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now» and «Girlfriend In A Coma».