Andy Rourke, bassist for The Smiths, dies aged 59

“With profound sadness we announce the passing of Andy Rourke after a long illness with pancreatic cancer,” Marr wrote on Twitter.

“Andy will be remembered as a gentle and beautiful soul by those who knew him and as an incredibly talented musician by his fans,” he added on Instagram, alongside a photo of the two when they were young.

Born on January 17, 1964, Rourke was the third of four brothers, all men. His parents gave him a guitar when he was 7 years old and shortly after he also started playing the bass.

Alongside his childhood friend Marr, who he met at school, he formed the band Freak Party.

Rourke was not The Smiths' first bassist, but he joined the group in the year it was formed, 1982.

The group from Manchester (northern England) became one of the most influential of the 1980s, with albums such as “Meat is Murder” (1985) and “The Queen is Dead” (1986).

The band split in 1987. Rourke also played with artists including Sinead O'Connor, The Pretenders, Aziz Ibrahim and Dolores O'Riordan, lead singer of the Cranberries, who passed away in 2018.

“He was not only the most talented bass player I've ever had the privilege of playing with, but also the sweetest, funniest guy I've ever met,” said Mike Joyce, former drummer for The Smiths.

Suede bassist Mat Osman paid tribute to a “rare bassist whose sound you could recognize immediately”.

After the Smiths split, Rourke, embroiled in a battle with heroin addiction, teamed up with drummer Joyce to sue the two former bandmates, Marr and singer-songwriter Morrissey, for a larger share of the royalties.

An agreement was reached and the childhood friendship between the bassist and guitarist survived the process.

Morrissey, however, began to adopt an increasingly reactionary discourse. In 2019 he appeared on an American television program as a symbol of a far-right British party.

The singer was very virulent towards his former bandmates for several years, before adopting a more conciliatory tone in his autobiography published in 2013.

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