- This article is about Johnny Marr, guitarist of The Smiths, The Cribs,
and Modest Mouse, whose birth name was
John Maher. For the former Buzzcocks drummer, see John Maher .
Johnny Marr (born
John Martin Maher on 31 October 1963 in Ardwick
, Manchester
) is an English songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist,
harmonica player, and singer. Marr
rose to fame in the 1980s as the guitarist in
The Smiths, where he formed a prolific
songwriting partnership with
Morrissey.
Marr has been a member of
Modest Mouse
since 2006, and in 2008, joined
The Cribs
after touring with them on 2008's
NME
Awards Tour.
Childhood and personal life
Marr is the son of
Irish immigrants to
England.
His parents came from Athy
in County
Kildare
. He attended St Augustine's RC Grammar
School, which then merged with other schools to form a
Comprehensive School, St John Plessingtons. Marr had aspirations to
be a professional football player, and was approached by
Nottingham Forest F.C. and had trials
with
Manchester City F.C. (which he
supports). In an interview with
FourFourTwo magazine, Marr said:
I was good enough for City, but they didn't follow up
because I was probably the only player out there wearing eyeliner.
He
currently resides in Portland, Oregon
in the United States
with wife Angie, and their children, daughter Sonny
and son Nile. Marr has been a
vegan
since 1985.
The Smiths
The Smiths
were formed in early 1982 by Marr and fellow Manchester resident Steven Patrick
Morrissey (he had not yet abandoned his first names), an
unemployed writer. 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
eponymous debut album to number two in
the UK chart. Early in 1985 the band released their second album,
Meat Is Murder. This was
more strident and political than its predecessor, and it was the
band's only album (barring compilations) 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.
However, all was not well within the group. A legal dispute with
Rough Trade had delayed the album by almost seven months (it had
been completed in November 1985), 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. In early
1987 the single "
Shoplifters of the World
Unite" was released to chart success, as well as mild
controversy and concern from parents.
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 August
1987, Marr left the group, and auditions to find a replacement for
him proved fruitless. By the time
Strangeways, Here We Come
(named after
Strangeways Prison,
Manchester) 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.
Marr particularly hated Morrissey's obsession with covering 1960s
pop artists such as
Twinkle and
Cilla Black.
Referring to the songs recorded in the band's last session together
(B-sides for the "Girlfriend in a Coma" single, which preceded the
album's release), 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
(who later became a BBC journalist) Morrissey said that the lack of
a managerial figure and business problems were to blame for the
band's eventual split.
In 1996, Smiths' drummer
Mike
Joyce took Morrissey and Marr to court, claiming that he had
not received his fair share of recording and performance royalties.
Morrissey and Marr had claimed the lion's share of The Smiths'
recording and performance royalties and allowed ten percent 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 claimed that 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. As Smiths'
royalties had been frozen for two years, Rourke settled for a
smaller lump sum to pay off his debts and continued to receive 10%.
Morrissey was described by the judge as "devious, truculent and
unreliable".
Both Marr and Morrissey have repeatedly said in interviews that
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 Johnny Marr on his website. What did eventuate
was Rourke joining Marr onstage for the first time since The Smiths
broke up, performing "
How Soon Is
Now?".
In an October 2007 interview on BBC Radio Five 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 10 or 15 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 is the
first potential indication of a Smiths reunion from Marr, who
previously has stated that reforming the band would be a bad
idea.
Marr's guitar playing "was a huge building block for more
Manchester legends that followed The Smiths -
The Stone Roses; their guitarist
John Squire has stated that Marr was a major
influence.
Oasis frontman
Noel Gallagher has called The Smiths an
influence, especially Marr whom he described as a "fucking wizard",
also stating that " (...) he´s unique, you can´t play what he
plays".. He also stated that "when
The Jam
split, The Smiths started, and I totally went for them."
Radiohead guitarist
Ed
O'Brien has acknowledged that he idolized The Smiths in the
1980s; the band pays homage to The Smiths in their song "
Knives Out". After O'Brien played with Johnny
Marr in New Zealand in 2001, he acknowledged that Marr was the
reason he had picked up a guitar as a teenager.
Post-Smiths
After the dissolution of The Smiths, Marr returned to the music
scene in 1989 with
New Order's
Bernard Sumner in the
supergroup Electronic. Electronic released three
albums over the next decade. Marr was also a member of
The The, recording two albums with the group between
1989 and 1993. He has also worked as a session musician and writing
collaborator for artists including
The
Pretenders,
Pet Shop Boys,
Billy Bragg,
Black Grape,
Jane
Birkin,
Talking Heads, and
Beck. In 2000 he started another band, Johnny
Marr and the Healers, with a moderate degree of success, and later
worked as a guest musician on the
Oasis
album
Heathen
Chemistry.
Marr became a session player, writing, touring and recording with,
among others,
Bryan Ferry,
Kirsty MacColl,
Simple Minds ,
Neil
Finn,
Karl Bartos of
Kraftwerk, Talking Heads,
Black Grape,
Billy
Bragg, Pet Shop Boys,
Beck and Oasis. He
also acted as co-producer for some of the aforementioned artists
and co-produced Manchester band Haven at his own Clear Studios. He
also continued to work as an official member of various groups,
including
The Pretenders,
The The, Electronic, Johnny Marr & The Healers,
Modest Mouse, and
The Cribs.
Marr played guitar on several Pet Shop Boys songs; he continues to
have guest appearances on their albums, with his most significant
contribution on
Release (2002). It should
also be noted that the only
remix that Johnny
Marr has ever done was for the Pet Shop Boys--it was a mix of his
favorite track from their 1987 album,
Actually, called "I Want to Wake Up,"
and was released as the
b-side to 1993's
"
Can You Forgive
Her?"
He performed two Smiths songs and music by others with a supergroup
called
7 Worlds Collide consisting
of members from
Pearl Jam, Radiohead,
Split Enz and others, assembled by Neil
Finn of Split Enz and
Crowded House in
2001. A second set of concerts took place in December 2008/January
2009, and an album of new material titled
The Sun Came Out was released in August
2009 to raise money for
Oxfam.
In addition to his work as a recording artist, Marr has worked as a
record producer. In 2006, he began work with
Modest Mouse's
Isaac Brock on songs that eventually
were featured on the band's 2007 release,
We Were Dead Before the
Ship Even Sank. The band subsequently announced that Marr
was a fully fledged member, and the reformed line-up toured
extensively throughout 2006-07. Marr has also been recording with
Liam Gallagher of Oasis.
The Pretenders, The The, Electronic (1987-1999)
After Marr left
The Smiths in August
1987, he was very briefly an official member of
The Pretenders. In late 1987, he toured with
the band and appeared on the single "Windows of the World" b/w
"1969". He then left The Pretenders, and recorded and toured with
The The from 1988 through 1994, and
simultaneously formed
Electronic
with
New Order's
Bernard Sumner. Electronic were
intermittently active throughout the 1990s, releasing their final
album in 1999.
Johnny Marr and The Healers (2000-2003)
In 2000 Johnny recruited drummer
Zak
Starkey (son of
Ringo Starr),
Cavewaves guitarist
Lee Spencer and
ex-
Kula Shaker bassist
Alonza Bevan for his new project Johnny Marr
and the Healers. The band had taken two years to come together as
Marr had wanted members to be chosen "by chemistry". Their debut
album
Boomslang was
released in 2003, with all lyrics and lead vocals by Marr. A second
album was originally scheduled for release in April 2005, and a
short tour was expected soon after, but Marr has since stated that
the band is on the "side burner" for the time being (
Manchester
Evening News, May 2007). Drummer Starkey is currently involved
with
The Who, and Bevan has regrouped with
Kula Shaker.
Modest Mouse (2006-present)
In 2006, Marr became a member of the American band
Modest Mouse. He wrote some of the songs with
lead singer
Isaac Brock on
their fifth album
We Were Dead Before the
Ship Even Sank, in addition to being featured on guitar,
and toured with the band throughout 2006 and 2007. During 2008,
when Modest Mouse opened for
R.E.M. during
their summer tour of the United States, Marr would come on stage
during the encore of R.E.M.'s set, for "
Fall
on Me" and, toward the end of the tour, "
Man on the Moon".
The new album reached number one on the American
Billboard
charts in late March 2007. For Marr this is the first time he has
had a number one record in the US. The highest chart position
before that was with Electronic, who made the Top 40 in the singles
chart with "Getting Away With It".
Marr in 2007
During
this period, Marr was asked to deliver a series of workshops and
masterclasses to students at the University of Salford
in the BA (Hons) Popular Music and Recording
programme. In the late 2000s, Marr's daughter Sonny
performed backing vocals on the track "Even A Child" on
Crowded House's 2007 album
Time On Earth, for which her father
Johnny played guitars. Marr also has a son named Nile Marr.
The Cribs (2008-present)
In January 2008, Marr was reported to have been contributing his
skill and experience to a secret songwriting session with Wakefield
indie group
The Cribs.
Sources reveal that
they worked together for a week at Moolah Rouge recording studio in
Stockport
- a favourite haunt of Bolton
's Badly Drawn Boy, Damon Gough and fellow northern indie heroes
I Am Kloot - and have penned a number of
new songs. He also played at the Glasgow Barrowlands,
Manchester Academy, Oxford Academy, Bristol Carling Academy, Leeds
University, Cardiff University and Brixton Carling Academy with The
Cribs on the NME Awards Tour. On 23 February 2008, XFM reported
that Marr was to become a full member of The Cribs. On 28 February
2008, he also played onstage with The Cribs at NME Big Gig at the
O2. Marr also played along with the Cribs at the Reading &
Leeds Festival 2008, singer Ryan Jarman introduced Johnny as the
newest member of the band, "Johnny Jarman". In 2009 Marr recorded
an album with the band titled
Ignore The Ignorant, which was
released on 7 September. As has been the case on most
Pet Shop Boys Albums since 1989, after working
with
Neil Tennant in Electronic, Marr
plays guitar and harmonica on their 2009 album
Yes.On Soccer AM in September 09
he explained he met up with The Cribs' bass player in Portland and
it has gone from strength to strength. He believes the new Cribs'
album "Ignore the Ignorant" is the best thing he has done in 25
years.
Discography
Albums (as band member)
The Smiths
The The
Electronic
Johnny Marr and The Healers
Modest Mouse
The Cribs
Albums (as a guest musician)
For a complete discography, see the article Johnny Marr guest musician
recordings.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Marr played on three Billy Bragg
recordings. In the late 1980s, he performed on albums by Bryan
Ferry and the Talking Heads. In the 1990s and 2000s, he performed
on three
Pet Shop Boys albums, and
also plays guitar on their
Xenomania-produced album,
Yes, released in 2009. In the
1990s, he also performed on albums by
Electrafixion,
M
People,
Beck, and
Tom Jones. In the 2000s, he played on
albums by bands such as Oasis, Pearl Jam, Jane Birkin,
goth songstress
Lisa
Germano and Crowded House. He also plays on
John Frusciante's tenth solo album,
The Empyrean, and guitar on
Girls Aloud's sixth album,
Out of Control, on a
track entitled "Rolling Back The Rivers in Time", as well as
harmonica on the track "Love Is The Key".
He also appeared on two tracks (Enough of Me, Central) on John
Frusciante's album The Empyrean which was released January
2009.
Albums (as producer)
Marion
Haven
Singles
In addition to an extensive singles discography with the artists
listed above, Johnny has appeared on singles by
Sandie Shaw,
Everything But the Girl,
The Pretenders,
Andrew Berry,
A
Certain Ratio,
The Cult,
Denise Johnson,
Stex, The
Impossible Dreamers (as producer) and
Black
Grape.
References
- [1]
- Morrissey-Solo.com
-
http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:NHA4T1IDwMkJ:news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3005033.stm
- [2]
- Isaac Brock Collaborating With Johnny Marr
- Rolling Stone: Rock Daily Exclusive: Modest
Marr!
- http://www.jmarr.com Johnny Marr website
- Former Smiths' guitarplayer reaches number 1 in
this weeks American Billboard Chart
- [3]
- Sleeve notes - Yes, Fundamental, Release
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