The news was reported by guitarist Johnny Marr via online entertainment, who expressed: “It is with profound trouble that we declare the death of Andy Rourke after an extended sickness with pancreatic disease. Andy will be recognized as a sort and delightful soul by the people who knew him and as a remarkably gifted performer by music fans. We demand protection at this miserable time.”
Rourke played on the Smiths' exemplary back index including hits, for example, This Enchanting Man and There Is a Light That Never Goes Out – both exemplary instances of his frequently strongly melodic style – as well as on independent tunes for frontman Morrissey after the gathering disbanded.
He likewise played in the supergroup Freebass with two other observed Mancunian bass guitarists, New Request's Peter Snare and the Stone Roses' Mani, and recorded with Sinéad O'Connor, the Actors, Ian Brown and was in the gathering Dim with the Cranberries entertainer Dolores O'Riordan.
The Smiths conformed to the association of Marr and Morrissey in 1982. Bassist Steve Pomfret joined, supplanted by Dale Hibbert, who played the Smiths' most memorable gig yet was supplanted from there on by Rourke, a school companion of Marr since the age of 11 – the pair had shaped a brief before band, Oddity Party.
“We were closest companions, going wherever together,” Marr said in a composed recognition for Rourke. “At the point when we were 15 I moved into his home with him and his three siblings and I before long came to understand that my mate was one of those uncommon individuals that positively nobody could do without. Andy and I invested all our energy concentrating on music, having a great time and dealing with turning into the best performers we might actually be.”
