In a tribute, Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr said the two met when they were schoolboys in 1975. “We were best friends, going everywhere together,” Marr said. wrote on Instagram. They played together in South Manchester bands as teenagers before Al Smith gained acclaim, he recounted, “And Andy reinvented what it meant to be a bass guitar player on those recordings that Smith did.”

Hailing from Manchester, England, Rourke helped produce a sound that became iconic as part of one of the most popular English bands of the 1980s, The Smiths, which produced hits like “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” and “How Soon Is Soon”. Is” now? “.

At the time, The Washington Post called them one of the best English bands of the decade.

After the band split up in 1987, Rourke continued to play and record with artists including the Pretenders and Badly Drawn Boy. During his decades-long career, he too creature A supergroup called Freebass with bassists from Stone Roses and Joy Division.

“I always got an instrument either for Christmas or on my birthday,” said Rourke, “so I’d cross over with plastic trumpets and saxophones and keyboards.” In a 2016 interview. “I played a little cello later, but I made it up because I needed it on a Smith record, so I bought one, tuned it like bass and went from there.”

Tributes poured in early Friday as fans paid tribute to him and his fellow musicians.

Suede bassist Matt Othman He said Rourke—will be remembered as “a complete for once—a rare guitarist whose voice you could instantly recognize.”

The guitarist said the last time Rourke played on stage was with Marr and his band at Madison Square Garden last year, describing it as “a matter of personal pride as well as sadness”. He described it as a “private moment shared” with the guitarist’s family and his “wife and soul mate Francesca”.

“It’s a matter of personal pride as well as sadness that the last time Andy played on stage was with me and my band at Madison Square Garden in September of 2022,” Marr said. He said it was a “special moment that I shared with my family, his wife and my soul mate, Francesca”.

Another former bandmate, Smiths drummer Mike Joyce, Adding that Rourke was “the sweetest, funniest boy I ever met.”

“Andy left the block,” he wrote, “but his musical legacy is enduring.”