Andy Rourke, 59, is dead. The news of his death was posted by former bandmate Johnny Marr. In a Twitter post on May 19, Rourke died after a “long illness of pancreatic cancer.”
Andy Rourke is dead. What else did The Smiths bassist do?
The guitarist also paid tribute to his former friend in the band, writing: “Andy will be remembered as a kind and beautiful soul by those who knew him, and by music fans as an extremely talented musician.”
Roruke gained the greatest recognition as a member of the British band The Smiths, which had a huge impact on the development of indie music in the following years. He was the main bassist of the band in 1982-1986 and again in 1986-1987. Rourke contributed music to all four of The Smiths’ studio albums: 1984’s The Smiths, 1985’s Meat Is Murder, 1986’s The Queen Is Dead and 1987’s Strangeways, Here We Come.
He met Johnny Marr in childhood, when he was 11 years old. When Marr formed The Smiths with Morrisey, he couldn’t imagine not having Rourke on bass. After the first concert of the group, he remained in it for most of its existence.
In addition to The Smiths, Rourke also formed and performed in the supergroup Freebass along with Peter Hook of New Order and Mani of The Stone Roses. He also recorded with The Pretenders for their 1994 album Last of the Independents, as well as with the bands Killing Joke and Moondog One (Bonehead’s Oasis band).
From 2009, together with Ole Koretsky, he co-hosted an original broadcast on New York’s East Village Radio, and a few years later, together with Dolores O’Riordan from The Cranberries, he founded the band DARK, which released one album “Science Agrees” in 2016.
After the death of the musician, many artists took the floor on social media to pay tribute to the deceased bassist. One such person is The Smiths record producer Stephen Street. “Extremely saddened by this news! Andy was a wonderful musician and lovely guy. I haven’t been able to read any other news for details yet, but sending my deepest condolences and thoughts to his friends and family. Rest in peace,” he tweeted.
Source: Gazeta
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