Johnny Marr life and biography

Johnny Marr (born John Martin Maher) is an English musician and songwriter. Marr rose to fame in the 1980s as the guitarist in The Smiths, with whom he formed a prolific songwriting partnership with Morrissey. Marr has been a member of Electronic, The The, and Modest Mouse. In 2008, he joined The Cribs after touring with them on 2008's NME Awards Tour, a group in which he would remain until 2011.

The Smiths released 4 studio albums between 1984 and 1987 when Marr broke the group up.

Their major hits in the UK, were Heaven knows I’m miserable now which reached #10 in 1984 and Sheila Take a Bow which reached the same number in 1987. Whilst their popular songs include This Charming Man, How Soon is Now and There is Light that Never goes out.

When he ended the band in 1987, Marr focused mainly on contributing to the work of established bands. He played session guitar and or wrote music for artists such as The Pretenders, Talking Heads, Billy Bragg and Kirsty Maccoll (among others).

He also became a member of The The briefly due to his friendship with singer Matt Johnson.

In 1989 He teamed up with New Order lead singer Bernard Sumner to form synthesiser/guitar super group Electronic. Combining at first with Pet Shop Boys Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe the duo released Getting Away with it which peaked at #12 in the Uk charts.

The foursome then released the song Disappointed. This attained them their top UK chart placement of #6, as well as featuring on the soundtrack to the Brad Pitt film Cool World.

Electronic soon solidified as just Sumner and Marr and between them they released three albums. Self titled debut, Electronic, Raise the Pressure and Twisted Tenderness were released in 1991, 1996 and 1999 respectively. As Sumner returned to fronting New Order Electronic dissolved.

In 2000 Johnny recruited drummer Zak Starkey (son of Ringo Starr), Cavewaves guitarist Lee Spencer and ex-Kula Shaker bassist Alonza Bevan for his new project Johnny Marr and the Healers. The band had taken two years to come together as Marr had wanted members to be chosen "by chemistry".

Their debut album Boomslang was released in 2003, with all lyrics and lead vocals by Marr. A second album was originally scheduled for release in April 2005, and a short tour was expected soon after, but Marr has since stated that the band is on the "side burner" for the time being (Manchester Evening News, May 2007). Drummer Starkey is currently involved with the Who, and Bevan has regrouped with Kula Shaker.

In 2006, Marr became a member of the American band Modest Mouse. He wrote some of the songs with lead singer Isaac Brock on their fifth album We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, in addition to being featured on guitar, and toured with the band throughout 2006 and 2007. During 2008, when Modest Mouse opened for R.E.M. during their summer tour of the United States, Marr would come on stage during the encore of R.E.M.'s set, for "Fall on Me" and, toward the end of the tour, "Man on the Moon". Johnny Marr and R.E.M.'s guitarist Peter Buck have often been compared by alternative music fans as having a similar guitar style.

Discography
The Smiths:
-The Smiths (1984)
-Hatful of Hollow (1984)
-Meat Is Murder (1985)
-The Queen Is Dead (1986)
-The World Won't Listen (1987)
-Louder Than Bombs (1987)
-Strangeways, Here We Come (1987)
-Rank (1988)

The The:
-Mind Bomb (1989)
-Dusk (1992)

Electronic:
-Electronic (1991)
-Raise the Pressure (1996)
-Twisted Tenderness (1999)

Johnny Marr and the Healers:
-Boomslang (2003)

Modest Mouse:
-We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (2007)
-No One's First and You're Next (2009)

The Cribs:
-Ignore the Ignorant (2009)

7 Worlds Collide:
-The Sun Came Out (2009)

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