Age, Biography, and Wiki
Morrissey, born Steven Patrick Morrissey on May 22, 1959, in Davyhulme, Lancashire (now part of Greater Manchester), England, is the son of Irish immigrants Elizabeth and Peter Morrissey. He grew up in Manchester alongside his older sister Jacqueline. Morrissey's early life was marked by a strong interest in literature and music, influenced by his mother, a librarian. He is renowned for his roles in The Smiths and his successful solo career, which have significantly contributed to his status as a pivotal figure in indie rock and Britpop.
| Occupation | Autobiographer |
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| Date of Birth | 22 May 1959 |
| Age | 66 Years |
| Birth Place | Davyhulme, Lancashire, England |
| Horoscope | Gemini |
| Country | England |
Height, Weight & Measurements
While specific measurements for Morrissey's height and weight are not widely documented, he is often described as having a tall, slender build, which is consistent with his iconic stage presence.
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Dating & Relationship Status
Morrissey has been somewhat private about his relationships over the years. There is no current information available on his marital status or any ongoing romantic relationships.
His parents, Elizabeth (née Dwyer) and Peter Morrissey, were Irish Catholics who had emigrated to Manchester from Dublin with his only sibling, elder sister Jacqueline, a year before his birth. Morrissey claims he was named after American actor Steve Cochran, although he may instead have been named in honour of his father's brother who died in infancy, Patrick Steven Morrissey. His earliest home was a council house at 17 Harper Street in the Queen's Square area of Hulme, inner Manchester, since demolished. Living in that area as a child, he was deeply affected by the Moors murders, in which a number of local children were killed; the crimes had a lasting impression on him and would inspire the lyrics of the Smiths song "Suffer Little Children". He also became aware of the anti-Irish sentiment in British society against Irish immigrants to Britain. In 1970, after the "slum clearances" of Victorian-era houses in Hulme, the family moved to another council house at 384 King's Road in Stretford.
In 1975, he travelled to the U.S. to visit an aunt who lived in Staten Island. The relationship between his parents was strained, and they ultimately separated in December 1976, with his father moving out of the family home.
Morrissey's librarian mother encouraged her son's interest in reading. He took an interest in feminist literature, citing examples such as Marjorie Rosen, Molly Haskell and Susan Brownmiller in an 1983 interview with NME. He particularly liked the Irish author Oscar Wilde, whom he came to idolise. The young Morrissey was a fan of the television soap opera Coronation Street, which focused on working-class communities in Manchester; he sent proposed scripts and storylines to the show's production company, Granada Television, although all were rejected. He was also a fan of Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey and its 1961 film adaptation, which was a drama focusing on working-class life in Salford. Many of his later songs directly quoted A Taste of Honey.
As frontman of the Smiths, Morrissey—described as "lanky, soft-spoken, bequiffed and bespectacled"—subverted many of the norms that were associated with pop and rock music. The band's aesthetic simplicity was a reaction to the excess personified by the New Romantics, and while Morrissey adopted an androgynous appearance like the New Romantics or earlier glam rockers, his was far more subtle and understated. According to one commentator, "he was bookish; he wore NHS spectacles and a hearing aid on stage; he was celibate. Worst of all, he was sincere", with his music being "so intoxicatingly melancholic, so dangerously thoughtful, so seductively funny that it lured its listeners . . . into a relationship with him and his music instead of the world." In an academic paper on the band, Julian Stringer characterised the Smiths as "one of Britain's most overtly political groups", while in his study of their work, Andrew Warns termed them "this most anti-capitalist of bands". Morrissey had been particularly vocal in his criticism of then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; after the October 1984 Brighton hotel bombing, he commented that "the only sorrow" of it was "that Thatcher escaped unscathed". In 1988, he stated that Section 28 "embodies Thatcher's very nature and her quite natural hatred".
In early 1987, the single "Shoplifters of the World Unite" was released and reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. It was followed by a second compilation album, The World Won't Listen, which reached number 2 in the charts —and the single "Sheila Take a Bow", the band's second (and last during the band's lifetime) UK top-10 hit. Despite their continued success, personal differences within the band—including the increasingly strained relationship between Morrissey and Marr—saw them on the verge of breaking up. In July 1987, Marr left the band and auditions to find a replacement proved fruitless.
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Net Worth and Salary
As of 2025, Morrissey's net worth is estimated to be approximately $50 million. This figure is largely attributed to his successful solo career, after his time with The Smiths, which has included numerous albums and tours.
In 1985, he gave a tour of Manchester for the Oxford Road Show and spoke fondly of St Wilfred's, including meeting his former teachers and going through a photo album. Later in the tour, he arrived at St Mary's and described it in highly negative terms, wryly closing with "Not to be recommended." He has been critical of his formal education, later stating, "The education I received was so basically evil and brutal. All I learnt was to have no self-esteem and to feel ashamed without knowing why." He has also discussed being subjected to corporal punishment as a student, which is the subject of the Smiths' 1985 song "The Headmaster Ritual". Education is a recurring theme in his lyrics, such as "The Teachers Are Afraid of the Pupils" from Southpaw Grammar (1995) and the Years of Refusal bonus track "Because of My Poor Education" (2009). The working title for his first solo album Viva Hate was Education in Reverse and it was initially released in Australia under that title, though this was later rectified.
Having left formal education, Morrissey proceeded through a series of jobs, as a clerk for the civil service and then the Inland Revenue, as a salesperson in a record store, and as a hospital porter, before abandoning employment and claiming unemployment benefits. He used much of the money from these jobs to purchase tickets for gigs, attending performances by Talking Heads, the Ramones, and Blondie. He regularly attended concerts, having a particular interest in the alternative and post-punk music scene. Having met the guitarist Billy Duffy in November 1977, Morrissey agreed to become the vocalist for Duffy's punk band the Nosebleeds, though Morrissey later said, in 2024, that he "did not ever join" the band. Morrissey co-wrote a number of songs with the band—"Peppermint Heaven", "I Get Nervous" and "I Think I'm Ready for the Electric Chair"—and performed with them in support slots for Jilted John and then Magazine. The band soon disbanded.
Career, Business, and Investments
Morrissey's musical career has been incredibly influential. He rose to fame as the lead singer and lyricist of The Smiths, an iconic British rock band active from 1982 to 1987. Following the band's dissolution, Morrissey embarked on a prolific solo career, releasing numerous albums and touring extensively. His distinctive voice and lyrics have made him a highly respected figure in the indie rock and Britpop genres.
Steven Patrick Morrissey (born 22 May 1959), known mononymously as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then, he has pursued a successful solo career. Morrissey's music is characterised by his baritone voice and distinctive lyrics with recurring themes of emotional isolation, sexual longing, self-deprecating and dark humour, and anti-establishment stances.
They moved due to the 1960s demolitions of almost all the Victorian-era houses in Hulme, known as 'slum clearance', and he grew up in nearby Stretford. As a child, he developed a love of literature, kitchen sink realism, and 1960s pop music. In the late 1970s, he fronted the punk rock band the Nosebleeds with little success before beginning a career in music journalism and writing several books on music and film in the early 1980s. (Morrissey later said, in 2024, that he "did not ever join" the Nosebleeds. ) He formed the Smiths with Johnny Marr in 1982 and the band soon attracted national recognition for their eponymous debut album. As the band's frontman, Morrissey attracted attention for his trademark quiff and witty and sardonic lyrics. Deliberately avoiding rock machismo, he cultivated the image of a sexually ambiguous social outsider who embraced celibacy. The Smiths released three further studio albums—Meat Is Murder, The Queen Is Dead, and Strangeways, Here We Come—and had a string of hit singles. The band were critically acclaimed and attracted a cult following. Personal differences between Morrissey and Marr resulted in the separation of the Smiths in 1987.
In 1988, Morrissey launched his solo career with Viva Hate. This album and its follow-ups—Kill Uncle (1991), Your Arsenal (1992), and Vauxhall and I (1994)—all did well on the UK Albums Chart and spawned multiple hit singles. He took on Alain Whyte and Boz Boorer as his main co-writers to replace Marr. During this time his image began to shift into that of a more robust figure who toyed with patriotic imagery and working-class masculinity. In the mid to late 1990s, his albums Southpaw Grammar (1995) and Maladjusted (1997) also charted but were less well received. Relocating to Los Angeles, he took a musical hiatus from 1998 to 2003 before releasing a successful comeback album, You Are the Quarry, in 2004. Ensuing years saw the release of albums Ringleader of the Tormentors (2006), Years of Refusal (2009), World Peace Is None of Your Business (2014), Low in High School (2017), California Son (2019), and I Am Not a Dog on a Chain (2020), as well as his autobiography (2013) and his debut novel, List of the Lost (2015).
Highly influential, Morrissey has been credited as a seminal figure in the emergence of indie pop, indie rock, and Britpop. In a 2006 poll for the BBC's Culture Show, Morrissey was voted the second-greatest living British cultural icon. His work has been the subject of academic study. He has been a controversial figure throughout his music career due to his forthright opinions and outspoken nature, endorsing vegetarianism and animal rights and criticising royalty and prominent politicians. He has also supported far-right activism with regard to British heritage, and defended a particular vision of national identity while critiquing the effects of immigration on the UK.
Wanting to become a professional writer, Morrissey considered a career in music journalism. He frequently wrote letters to the music press and was eventually hired by the weekly music review publication Record Mirror. He wrote several short books for local publishing company Babylon Books: in 1981 it released a 24-page booklet he had written on the New York Dolls, which sold 3000 copies. This was followed by James Dean is Not Dead, about the late American film star James Dean. Morrissey had developed a love of Dean and had covered his bedroom with pictures of the dead film star.
After the record company EMI turned them down, Morrissey and Marr visited London to hand a cassette of their recordings to Geoff Travis of the independent record label Rough Trade Records. Although not signing them to a contract straight away, he agreed to cut their song "Hand in Glove" as a single. Morrissey chose a homoerotic cover design in the form of a Jim French photograph. It was released in May 1983. The band soon generated controversy when Garry Bushell of tabloid newspaper The Sun alleged that their B-side "Handsome Devil" was an endorsement of paedophilia. The band denied this, with Morrissey stating that the song "has nothing to do with children, and certainly nothing to do with child molesting". In the wake of their single, the band performed their first significant London gig, gained radio airplay with a John Peel session, and obtained their first interviews in music magazines NME and Sounds.
Social Network
Morrissey is known for being active in political and social issues, often using his platform to advocate for animal rights and other causes. However, he does not have an official social media presence, which is somewhat unusual for a public figure of his stature. His views and messages are often shared through interviews and public statements.
Of his youth, Morrissey has said, "Pop music was all I ever had, and it was completely entwined with the image of the pop star. I remember feeling the person singing was actually with me and understood me and my predicament." He later revealed that the first record he purchased was Marianne Faithfull's 1965 single "Come and Stay With Me". He became a glam rock fan in the 1970s, enjoying the work of English artists like T. Rex, David Bowie and Roxy Music. He was also a fan of American glam rock artists such as Sparks, Jobriath and the New York Dolls. He formed a British fan club for the latter, attracting members through small adverts in the back pages of music magazines. It was through the New York Dolls' interest in female pop singers from the 1960s that Morrissey too developed a fascination for such artists, including Sandie Shaw, Twinkle, and Dusty Springfield.
Several months before the Smiths dissolved, Morrissey enlisted Stephen Street as his personal producer and new songwriting partner, with whom he could begin his solo career. By September 1987, he had begun work on his first solo album, Viva Hate, at Wool Hall Studios near Bath; it was recorded with the musicians Vini Reilly and Andrew Paresi. Rather than featuring pre-existing images of celebrities, as the Smiths' album and single covers had done, the cover sleeve of Viva Hate featured a photograph of Morrissey taken by Anton Corbijn. In February 1988, EMI released the first single from this album, "Suedehead", which reached number 5 on the British singles chart, a higher position than any Smiths single had achieved. The second single from the album, "Everyday Is Like Sunday", was released in June and reached number 9. The album reached number 1 on the UK album charts. The album's final song, "Margaret on the Guillotine", featured descriptions of Thatcher being executed; in response, the Conservative Member of Parliament Geoffrey Dickens accused Morrissey of being involved in a terrorist network and police Special Branch conducted a search of his Manchester home.
Morrissey's first solo performance took place at Wolverhampton's Civic Hall in December 1988. The event attracted huge crowds, with NME journalist James Brown observing that "the excitement and atmosphere inside the hall was like nothing I have ever experienced at any public event". Following Viva Hate, Morrissey put out two new singles; "The Last of the Famous International Playboys" was about the Kray twins, gangsters who operated in London's East End, and reached number 6 on the UK singles chart. This was followed by "Interesting Drug", which reached number 9. After his
Education
Morrissey attended St. Wilfred's Primary School and St. Mary's Technical Modern School but left education without formal qualifications in 1975. He developed a strong interest in literature under his mother's influence.
Morrissey's enduring influence on music and his commitment to social causes continue to make him a significant figure in the entertainment industry.
Following a primary education at St Wilfred's Primary School, Morrissey failed his 11-plus exam and proceeded to St Mary's Secondary Modern School, an experience he found unpleasant. He excelled at athletics, though he was an unpopular loner at the school. He left school in 1975, having received no formal qualifications. He continued his education at Stretford Technical College, where he gained three O-Levels in English literature, sociology, and the General Paper.
Alongside developing their own songs, they also developed a cover of the Cookies' "I Want a Boy for My Birthday", the latter reflecting their deliberate desire to transgress established norms of gender and sexuality in rock in a manner inspired by the New York Dolls. In August 1982, they recorded their first demo at Manchester's Decibel Studios, and Morrissey took the demo recording to Factory Records, but they weren't interested. In late summer 1982, Mike Joyce was adopted as the band's drummer after a successful audition. In October 1982, they then gave their first public performance, as a support act for Blue Rondo à la Turk at Manchester's The Ritz. Hibbert however was unhappy with what he perceived as the band's gay aesthetic; in turn, Morrissey and Marr were unhappy with his bass playing, and so he was removed from the band and replaced by Marr's old school friend Andy Rourke.
