Johnny Marr
John Martin Marr is an English-born Irish musician, singer and songwriter. He first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. He has since performed with numerous other bands and embarked on a solo career.
Born and raised in Manchester, England, to Irish parents, Marr formed his first band at the age of 13. He was part of several bands with Andy Rourke before forming the Smiths with Morrissey in 1982. The Smiths attained commercial success and were critically acclaimed, with Marr's jangle pop guitar style becoming a distinctive part of the band's sound, but separated in 1987 due to personal differences between Marr and Morrissey. Since then, Marr has been a member of the Pretenders, the The, Electronic, Modest Mouse, and the Cribs, and he has become a prolific session musician, working with names such as Kirsty MacColl, Pet Shop Boys, Talking Heads, Bryan Ferry, and Hans Zimmer.
Having released an album titled Boomslang in 2003 under the name Johnny Marr and the Healers, Marr released his first solo album, The Messenger, in 2013. His second solo album, Playland, was released in 2014, followed by a third, Call the Comet, in 2018. Marr's autobiography, Set the Boy Free, was published in 2016.
Described by Alexis Petridis of The Guardian as "the 1980s' most inventive and distinctive guitarist", Marr was voted the fourth-best guitarist of the last 30 years in a poll conducted by the BBC in 2010. Phil Alexander, editor-in-chief of Mojo, described him as "arguably Britain's last great guitar stylist". In 2013, NME honoured Marr with its "Godlike Genius" award.
Early life
Marr was born on 31 October 1963 in Saint Mary's Hospital in Manchester, son of John Joseph Maher and Frances Patricia Doyle, Irish emigrants to England from County Kildare. The family initially lived in Ardwick Green, but moved to a housing estate on Altrincham Road in Wythenshawe in 1972. Marr attended St Aloysius Primary School, in Ardwick, before moving to Sacred Heart Primary School. From 1975, he attended St Augustine's Catholic Grammar School, in Sharston, which in 1977 merged with other schools to form St John Plessington High School. Marr had aspirations to be a professional football player. He was approached by Nottingham Forest and had trials with Manchester City's youth team.Marr's said his family's move to Wythenshawe was "like we'd moved to Beverly Hills", and that the move led to him meeting "a bunch of guitar players" which "changed his life". Guitarist Billy Duffy, later a member of the Cult, was in a high school band that practised across the street from Marr's new house, and Marr would hang out listening to them rehearsing. He learned to play the guitar with LP vinyl records and a guitar chords dictionary without a teacher. Marr formed his first band, the Paris Valentinos, at the age of 13, with Andy Rourke and Kevin Williams, performing for the first time at a Jubilee party in Benchill in June 1977, playing covers by the Rolling Stones and Thin Lizzy.
In 1979, he played a single gig at Wythenshawe Forum with a band called Sister Ray and re-united with Rourke in a band called White Dice. White Dice entered a demo-tape competition organised by NME and won an audition for F-Beat Records, which they attended in April 1980 but were not signed. Around the age of 14, he began spelling his name "Marr" to simplify the pronunciation for those who had difficulty with his birth name "Maher", and to avoid confusion with Buzzcocks drummer John Maher.
In October 1980, Marr enrolled at Wythenshawe College, and was President of their Student Union. White Dice dissolved in 1981. Marr and Rourke then formed a funk band, Freak Party, with Simon Wolstencroft on drums. Around this time, Marr first met Matt Johnson, with whom he later collaborated.
The Smiths
By early 1982, Freak Party had fizzled out, being unable to find a singer. Marr approached Rob Allman, singer in White Dice, who suggested Steven Morrissey, a singer with the short-lived punk band the Nosebleeds. Marr approached a mutual friend, Stephen Pomfret, asking to be introduced and they visited Morrissey at his house in Kings Road, Stretford, in May.Marr's jangly Rickenbacker and Fender Telecaster guitar playing became synonymous with the Smiths' sound. Marr's friend Andy Rourke joined as bass player and Mike Joyce was recruited as drummer. Signing to indie label Rough Trade Records, they released their first single, "Hand in Glove", on 13 May 1983. By February 1984, the Smiths' fanbase was sufficiently large to launch the band's long-awaited debut album to number two in the UK chart. Early in 1985, the band released their second album, Meat Is Murder. It was more strident and political than its predecessor, and it was the band's only album to reach number one in the UK charts. During 1985 the band completed lengthy tours of the UK and the US while recording the next studio record, The Queen Is Dead.
In 1989 Spin magazine rated The Queen is Dead as number one of "The Greatest Albums Ever Made". Spin was not alone in this designation—numerous periodicals rank the Smiths and their albums, especially The Queen is Dead, high on their best ever lists. NME, for example, has dubbed the Smiths the most important rock band of all time. A legal dispute with Rough Trade had delayed the album by almost seven months, and Marr was beginning to feel the stress of the band's exhausting touring and recording schedule. He later told NME, "'Worse for wear' wasn't the half of it: I was extremely ill. By the time the tour actually finished it was all getting a little bit... dangerous. I was just drinking more than I could handle." Meanwhile, Rourke was fired from the band in early 1986 due to his use of heroin, although he was reinstated in short order. Despite their continued success, personal differences within the band—including the increasingly strained relationship between Morrissey and Marr—saw them on the verge of splitting.
In July 1987, Marr left the group, and auditions to find a replacement for him proved fruitless. By the time Strangeways, Here We Come was released in September, the band had split up. The breakdown in the relationship has been primarily attributed to Morrissey's becoming annoyed by Marr's work with other artists and Marr's growing frustration with Morrissey's musical inflexibility. Referring to the songs recorded in the group's last session together, Marr said "I wrote 'I Keep Mine Hidden', but 'Work Is a Four-Letter Word' I hated. That was the last straw, really. I didn't form a group to perform Cilla Black songs". In 1989, in an interview with young fan Tim Samuels, later a BBC journalist, Morrissey said the lack of a managerial figure and business problems were to blame for the band's eventual split. In a 2016 interview, Marr agreed with this.
In 1996, the Smiths' drummer Mike Joyce took Morrissey and Marr to court, arguing that he had not received his fair share of recording and performance royalties. Morrissey and Marr had received most of the Smiths' recording and performance royalties, and allowed ten per cent each to Joyce and Rourke. Composition royalties were not an issue, as Rourke and Joyce had never been credited as composers for the band. Morrissey and Marr said the other two members of the band had always agreed to that split of the royalties, but the court found in favour of Joyce and ordered that he be paid over £1 million in back pay and receive 25% thenceforth.
Marr and Morrissey have repeatedly stated they will not reunite the band. In 2005, VH1 attempted to get the band back together on its Bands Reunited show but abandoned its attempt after the show's host, Aamer Haleem, failed to corner Morrissey before a show. In December 2005 it was announced that Johnny Marr and the Healers would play at Manchester v Cancer, a benefit show for cancer research being organised by Andy Rourke and his production company, Great Northern Productions. Rumours suggested that a Smiths reunion would occur at this concert but were dispelled by Marr on his website.
In an October 2007 interview on BBC Radio 5 Live, Marr hinted at a potential reformation in the future, saying that "stranger things have happened so, you know, who knows?" Marr went on to say that "It's no biggy. Maybe we will in 18 or 32 years' time when we all need to for whatever reasons, but right now Morrissey is doing his thing and I'm doing mine, so that's the answer really." This was the first indication of a possible Smiths reunion from Marr, who previously had said that reforming the band would be a bad idea. In 2008 Marr and Morrissey met and discussed the possibility of a reunion, but after initial enthusiasm from both parties, neither pursued the idea.
Marr's guitar playing "was a huge building block" for more Manchester bands that followed the Smiths. The Stone Roses guitarist John Squire has stated that Marr was a major influence. Oasis lead guitarist Noel Gallagher credited the Smiths as an influence, especially Marr, whom he described as a "fucking wizard", also stating that "he's unique, you can't play what he plays."
In August 2024, Morrissey said in a post on his website that he and Marr had received a "lucrative offer" to tour as the Smiths in 2025. The singer said he had accepted the invitation, but that Marr did not respond. Marr did not publicly comment, but had recently posted a picture of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage to rebuke calls to reunite in the aftermath of Oasis's reunion. Marr previously said in 2016 that Morrissey's politics aligned with Farage's, joking that any potential Smiths reunion would feature the politician as their replacement guitarist. Weeks later, on Marr's official Instagram, Marr's management issued an official statement in response to Morrissey's claims that Marr ignored the offer: "As for the offer to tour, I didn't ignore the offer - I said no."
Marr's statement also clarified other claims made by Morrissey's team on Morrissey's website such as that Marr had filed for 100% ownership of the Smiths' intellectual property and trademark rights without having consulted with Morrissey despite the fact that "Morrissey alone created the musical unit name "The Smiths' in May 1982". In Marr's statement, it was clarified that Marr discovered that the band did not own the trademark, and in an effort to protect the trademark from a third party attempt made in 2018 to use the band's name, Marr registered the trademark solely under his name after a failure to receive a response from Morrissey and his representatives. In January 2024, Marr signed an agreement to share ownership of the name with Morrissey, an agreement Morrissey has yet to follow up on. Marr further clarified that the efforts to take the trademark were not to tour under the Smiths' name with a singer of Marr's choice, but rather simply to protect the band's name and use of the name.