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Morrissey
English singer and songwriter (born 1959)
Steven Patrick Morrissey, 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.
genres: alternative rock, jangle pop, indie rock, indie pop
influenced by: Jobriath
awards: MOJO Awards
plays: piano, voice
member of: The Smiths, The Nosebleeds
Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.
alternative rockindie popindie rockart poppity poprock
The Elsewhere GazetteExtra
Family life and influences
In 1975 Morrissey travelled to the United States to visit an aunt who lived in Staten Island. The relationship between his parents was strained, and they ultimately separated in December 1976, with his father moving out of the family home.
Having left formal education, Morrissey proceeded through a series of jobs, as a clerk for the civil service and then the Inland Revenue, as a salesperson in a record store, and as a hospital porter, before abandoning employment and claiming unemployment benefits. He used much of the money from these jobs to purchase tickets for gigs, attending performances by Talking Heads, the Ramones and Blondie. He regularly attended concerts, having a particular interest in the alternative and post-punk music scene. Having met the guitarist Billy Duffy in November 1977, Morrissey agreed to become the vocalist for Duffy's punk band the Nosebleeds, although Morrissey later said, in 2024, that he "did not ever join" the band. Morrissey co-wrote a number...
Several months before the Smiths dissolved, Morrissey enlisted Stephen Street as his personal producer and new songwriting partner, with whom he could begin his solo career. By September 1987 he had begun work on his first solo album, Viva Hate, at The Wool Hall studio near Bath; it was recorded with the musicians Vini Reilly and Andrew Paresi. Rather than featuring pre-existing images of celebrities, as the Smiths' album and single covers had done, the cover sleeve of Viva Hate featured a photograph of Morrissey taken by Anton Corbijn. In February 1988, EMI released the first single from this album, "Suedehead", which reached number 5 on the British singles chart, a higher position than any Smiths single had achieved. The second single...
Morrissey's vocals have been cited as having a particularly distinctive quality. Simpson believed that Morrissey's work embodied and personified that of the "Northern Women", speaking in styles of vernacular language that would be common to many women living in northern England. In this he was strongly influenced by the Northern singer Cilla Black, who had a successful career as a pop music singer in the 1960s, as well as Viv Nicholson, who similarly earned fame during that decade. Other female singers from that decade who have been cited as an influence on Morrissey have been the Scottish Lulu, and the Essexer Sandie Shaw. However, Stringer noted that rather than expressly singing in a Mancunian working-class accent, Morrissey adopted a...
"All You Need Is Me" is a 2008 song by the English singer and songwriter Morrissey that is featured on his Greatest Hits album. It was released as a single on 2 June 2008 in the UK for only one week, reaching number 24 on the UK Singles Chart, as well as becoming his first number-one single on the Scottish Singles Chart, which at that point counted physical sales only.
The song is also on his studio album Years of Refusal.
"I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" is a song written by Morrissey along with Boz Boorer, the two being responsible for lyrics and music respectively. The song was the first single to be released from Morrissey's ninth studio album Years of Refusal (2009).
It was recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Jerry Finn, the man behind 2004's You Are the Quarry. The single was released on 9 February 2009 and has reached No. 21 on the UK Singles Chart, and is his last single to reach the UK Top 40.
Reception
Reviewing a pre-release copy of the single, Filter magazine said the song contained "Morrissey’s classic croon" and that they could not get enough of it.
"Something Is Squeezing My Skull" is a song with lyrics by Morrissey and music by Alain Whyte. The song is the second single to be released from Morrissey's 2009 album Years of Refusal.
It was recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Jerry Finn, the man behind 2004’s You Are the Quarry. The single was released on 27 April 2009 and reached number 46 on the UK Singles Chart, as well as number one on the Scottish Singles Chart, which at that point still only counted physical sales, becoming Morrissey's third and most recent number-one single on that chart.
"That's How People Grow Up" is a 2008 single by British singer Morrissey. The song, released on 4 February 2008, was used to promote his latest Greatest Hits album.
The song also appears on his 2009 album Years of Refusal.
