Mark E. Smith, the lead singer of legendary post-punk band The Fall, has died aged 60.
The announcement was made by the Manchester post-punk band’s manager Pam Van Damned on Twitter
The tweets read: “It is with deep regret that we announce the passing of Mark E. Smith. He passed this morning at home…. 1/2
“A more detailed statement will follow in the next few days. In the meantime, Pam & Mark’s family request privacy at this sad time.”
There has been an outpouring of grief from fans of the band.
The Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess wrote: “So so sad to hear that we’ve lost Mark E Smith. A true uncompromising musical maverick. A genius, a curmudgeon and someone whose company it was an honour to share. So long M.E.S x x x ”
Smith formed The Fall, named after the novel by Albert Camus, with friends Martin Bramah and Tony Friel (who coined their name) after dropping out of college at the age of 19. Originally they were named The Outsiders, after another Camus work. He gave up his job as a shipping clerk at Salford docks shortly afterward to devote his full energies to the band, and continued to do from then on. Smith married American guitarist and Fall band member (1983–89 and 1994–96) Brix Smith on 19 July 1983, after meeting during the band’s American tour earlier that year. They divorced in 1989, and he remarried twice after this. His second wife was Saffron Prior, who used to work for the Fall’s fan club. He married his most recent wife, Eleni Poulou, also called Elenor or Elena, in 2001. Poulou joined the band in September 2002 and resigned in July 2016.
Musically, Smith’s influences vary from American artists such as Captain Beefheart, The Seeds and The Velvet Underground to British bands such as The Move and The Groundhogs.
When British DJ and Fall supporter John Peel died in 2004, Smith made a notorious appearance on the BBC’s Newsnight show. He made his appreciation for Peel clear in several subsequent interviews, although the two only met a handful of times.
Though he broke his hip while promoting the album The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click) in 2004, Smith refused to cancel an upcoming American tour, instead choosing to perform in a wheelchair. Ultimately, the pain and medication caused a number of dates to be cancelled.
In January 2005, Mark E. Smith was the subject of The Fall: The Wonderful and Frightening World of Mark E. Smith, a BBC Four television documentary. The following August he received the “Contribution to Music” award at the Diesel-U-Music Awards. Smith’s autobiography, Renegade: The Gospel According to Mark E. Smith, written with Manchester-based writer Austin Collins, was published by Viking Books in April 2008.
