Morrissey: 'Andy Rourke will never die as long as his music is heard'
19.05.2023 - 21:45
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Morrissey has paid a touching tribute to his former bandmate Andy Rourke saying he 'will never die as long as his music is heard'. It was announced on Friday that Rourke, bass player in The Smiths, had died at the age of 59 'after a lengthy illness with pancreatic cancer'.
In an online tribute Morrissey said Rourke 'didn’t ever know his own power' adding: 'Nothing that he played had been played by someone else'. The Smiths’ guitarist Johnny Marr was among those to lead tributes, alongside other musicians including The Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess and folk singer Billy Bragg.
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In a statement, Morrissey said: "Sometimes one of the most radical things you can do is to speak clearly. When someone dies, out come the usual blandishments… as if their death is there to be used.
"I'm not prepared to do this with Andy. I just hope … wherever Andy has gone … that he's OK. He will never die as long as his music is heard.
"He didn't ever know his own power, and nothing that he played had been played by someone else. His distinction was so terrific and unconventional and he proved it could be done.
"He was also very, very funny and very happy, and post-Smiths, he kept a steady identity – never any manufactured moves. I suppose, at the end of it all, we hope to feel that we were valued. Andy need not worry about that."
In his own post on Instagram, Marr said it was an 'absolute privilege' to play alongside Rourke. He wrote about moving in with Rourke as a boy and how he was 'one of those rare people that absolutely no-one doesn't like'.
He said: "Andy will be remembered as a kind and beautiful soul by those who knew him and as a supremely gifted musician by music