Andy Rourke, who has died of pancreatic cancer aged 59, was a bass player with a distinctive melodic style. His musicianship was integral to the sound of the Smiths, the seminal Manchester band he played in from 1982 to 1987, along with the singer Morrissey, guitarist Johnny Marr and drummer Mike Joyce. Rourke’s funky twangs were a key component of classic singles such as This Charming Man and William, It Was Really Nothing, not to mention much-loved album tracks such as There Is a Light That Never Goes Out and The Headmaster Ritual. “I tried to do a tune within a tune. I wanted it to stand up on its own,” Rourke once said, pinpointing how his style proved a perfect foil for Marr’s talents.
The pair first took up guitars at school in 1975, jamming during breaks. They took their friendship and musical kinship into the charts and on to Top of the Pops in the band which, in 2002, NME voted the “most influential of the last 50 years”. Rourke played on all the Smiths’ classic albums – The Smiths (1984), Meat Is Murder (1985), The Queen Is Dead (1986) and Strangeways Here We Come (1987) – as well as 24 singles and other key releases such as the compilation Hatful of Hollow (1984).
