Morrissey

English singer‐songwriter

United Kingdom • b. 1959-05-22

Biography

Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), mononymously known as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of the rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then he has pursued a successful solo career. Morrissey's music is characterised by his baritone voice and distinctive lyrics with anti-establishment stances and recurring themes of emotional isolation, sexual longing, self-deprecation, and dark humour. Morrissey was born to working-class Irish immigrants in Old Trafford, Lancashire, England; the family lived in Hulme but moved due to the 1960s demolitions of almost all the Victorian-era houses, known as "slum clearance", and he grew up in nearby Stretford. As a child, he developed a love of literature, kitchen sink realism and 1960s pop music. In the late 1970s, he fronted the punk rock band the Nosebleeds with little success before beginning a career in music journalism and writing several books on music and film in the early 1980s. (Morrissey later said, in 2024, that he "did not ever join" the Nosebleeds.) He formed the Smiths with Johnny Marr in 1982 and the band soon attracted national recognition for their eponymous debut album. As the band's frontman, Morrissey attracted attention for his trademark quiff and witty and sardonic lyrics. Deliberately avoiding rock machismo, he cultivated the image of a sexually ambiguous social outsider who embraced celibacy. The Smiths released three further studio albums—Meat Is Murder (1985), The Queen Is Dead (1986) and Strangeways, Here We Come (1987)—and had a string of top twenty singles on the UK chart. The band were critically acclaimed and attracted a cult following. Personal differences between Morrissey and Marr resulted in the separation of the Smiths in 1987. Morrissey launched his solo career with Viva Hate in 1988. This album and its follow-ups—Kill Uncle (1991), Your Arsenal (1992) and Vauxhall and I (1994)—all entered the top

Bio from Wikipedia