Johnny Marr (born October 31, 1963) is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist, known best for forming the Smiths with singer Morrissey, from Manchester, UK.
Johnny Marr, born John Martin Maher was raised in Manchester, England by his Irish-emigrant parents. With initial aspirations of being a professional football player, Maher started his first band, the Paris Velentinos, aged 13 with school friends, followed by the bands Sister Ray and White Dice. In 1980 the talented guitarist enrolled at Wythenshawe College, dissolved the White Dice band and formed a funk band titled Freak Party.
At the recommendation of previous White Dice singer Rob Allman, Maher approached Steven Morrissey, a punk singer with the band the Nosebleeds, who along with friend Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce, formed what has been described as the most influential and important band to emerge out of the 1980s. The Smiths signed to Rough Trade Records and issued their debut single “Hand in Glove” in May 1983. The highly anticipated eponymously-titled debut album shot to No. 2 in the UK Albums chart and consolidated the considerable fan base.
The Smiths’ subsequent albums include the politically charged No. 1 album “Meat is Murder” in 1985, Spin magazine’s ‘Greatest Album Ever Made’ “The Queen Is Dead” in 1986, “The World Won’t Listen”, “Louder Than Bombs” and “Strangeways, Here We Come” all in 1987, and their last release “Rank” in 1988.
Post-Smiths, Maher featured as a significant session player for artists and bands like the Pet Shop Boys, Bryan Ferry, Talking Heads and Beck. On top of this he became an officiall member of the band the Pretenders in late 1987, formed the group Electronic with New Order’s Bernard Summer and formed Johnny Marr and the Healers in the year 2000. The band formed of Zak Starkey (son of Ringo Starr), Lee Spenser and Alonzo Bevan released their debut “Boomslang” in 2003.
In 2006 Maher became a full member of the American indie and alternative rock group Modest Mouse for the band’s 2007 release “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank” and toured extensively in support of the album. A couple of years later in 2008 Maher imparted some of his skill and experienced wisdom on English indie band the Cribs. The collaboration led to Maher performing with the band across their UK and international dates and recorded the album “Ignore the Ignorant” with the Cribs in 2009.
After contributing to the soundtracks of films Inception and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Maher released his debut solo album “The Messenger” on February 25, 2013, followed-by his second solo studio album “Playland” in 2014.
Aaron Lee Tasjan
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