Delve back through rock and pop history and it’s often the most unlikely unions that create the most innovative and exhilarating music. Such was the case with Steven Patrick Morrissey and John Martin Maher, the former a writer, vocalist and visionary, who turned Mancunian mundanity into exquisite paeans of desire and disaffection; and the latter, a streetwise guitarist whose dazzling style and technique were matched by melodic prowess.
What they both shared, when they first met in May 1982, was a love of the New York Dolls, Patti Smith and '60s girl groups. They also both had boundless levels of drive, conviction and self-belief.
