• May 22, 1959
• Morrissey (full name Steven Patrick Morrissey), has a reputation for being perpetually morose, which he earned with the 1984 song "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" by his band The Smiths. He's copped to suffering from depression, but in 2017 he said, "I'm really not that miserable. I'm not an unhappy person."
• Morrissey is a cousin of former Republic of Ireland footballer Robbie Keane.
• He has been a strict vegetarian since the age of 11. Morrissey told Larry King; "I became vegetarian first when I was very young when I caught sight of a programme on the television showing slaughter and I'd never seen it before, the abattoir, the slaughterhouse. I was frozen for five years. I couldn't believe that in our society such places exist."
• Morrissey was involved in Manchester's punk rock scene during the late 1970s. His fronted the Nosebleeds a job he landed after responding to an advert placed by guitarist Billy Duffy (who'd later join The Cult) in Virgin Records.
• He rose to prominence as the lead singer of The Smiths during the 1980s. After the band split in 1987, Morrissey carved out a solo career, making the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart on 10 occasions. When The Smiths were active, they cracked the Top 10 just twice.
• The young Morrissey was a keen fan of the UK television soap Coronation Street, which is set in a fictional town in the Manchester area. The proud Manc authored a number of scripts and storylines for the series which he sent to the show's production company, Granada TV, but all were rejected. However Morrissey had a cycle-on part as an extra.
• Morrissey's Autobiography topped the British bestseller lists when it was published in 2013. It appeared under the Penguin Classics imprint, a rare designation for a living writer.
• His debut novel List Of The Lost was picked as the 2015 winner for The Literary Review's annual Bad Sex Award. Morrissey did not attend the ceremony on December 1, 2015. He told Uruguayan newspaper El Observador that he felt it was "best to maintain an indifferent distance" from the award.
• Morrissey was offered a cameo role on the American sitcom Friends when he was visiting the set. He was asked to jump in on a newly jumbled plot-line where he'd appear with Phoebe in the Central Perk diner singing "in a really depressing voice'. According to his autobiography, Morrissey fled "down the fire-escape like a serpent."
• He was the victim of an attempted kidnapping in September 2007. Morrissey alleges in his autobiography that he was targeted by Mexican kidnappers after performing a 2007 concert at El Foro in Tijuana. His driver veered off the highway down a dark road. Fortunately, he and his security guard managed to leave the car safely, but they found themselves stranded in the middle of nowhere.
• Morrissey is a cat lover. He told the London Sunday Times:
  
  "My best friends have been cats. I had one cat for 23 years and one for 22. They just walked into the house, one when I was a small child and one when I was slightly older. I won't say they were like children, because I don't know any children that are actually nice. They were black-and-white and called Buster and Tibby."
• He's very popular in the Latinx community of Southern California. In the '00s, he lived in Hollywood and played a lot of shows in the area.
• True to form, he stays off social media and claims he never owned a smartphone. His management runs Facebook and Instagram pages for him and maintains his official website, Morrissey Central. He has been the target of online impersonators, and in 2025 took legal action against a person he claims executed a years-long campaign of harassment.

Comments

More Songfacts:

Everything ZenBush

After Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale coupled up in 1996, Rossdale's Bush bandmates referred to their hit song "Everything Zen" as "Everything Gwen."

Watching The DetectivesElvis Costello

Lyrically, Elvis Costello's "Watching The Detectives" was inspired by American detective shows; musically, it was inspired by The Clash.

Enter SandmanMetallica

The original "Enter Sandman" lyric was about crib death, with the "sandman" killing a baby.

That Don't Impress Me MuchShania Twain

Brad Pitt and Elvis both get mentions in the 1997 Shania Twain hit "That Don't Impress Me Much."

White as SnowU2

Bono came up with the idea of focusing on a soldier's last thoughts as he dies from his wounds in the U2 song "White As Snow" after reading William Golding's 1956 novel Pincher Martin.

Lady MarmaladeLabelle

"Lady Marmalade" is the only song to hit #1 twice in both the UK and US.

Editor's Picks

We Will Rock You (To Sleep): Pop Stars Who Recorded Kids' AlbumsSong Writing

With the rise of Kindie rock, more musicians are embracing their inner child with tunes for tots - here, we look at pop stars who recorded kids' albums.

Creedence Clearwater RevivalFact or Fiction

Is "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" about Vietnam? Was John Fogerty really born on a Bayou? It's the CCR edition of Fact or Fiction.

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"Songwriter Interviews

Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."

Songs Discussed in MoviesSong Writing

Bridesmaids, Reservoir Dogs, Willy Wonka - just a few of the flicks where characters discuss specific songs, sometimes as a prelude to murder.

Susanna Hoffs - "Eternal Flame"They're Playing My Song

The Prince-penned "Manic Monday" was the first song The Bangles heard coming from a car radio, but "Eternal Flame" is closest to Susanna's heart, perhaps because she sang it in "various states of undress."

P.F. SloanSongwriter Interviews

P.F. was a teenager writing hits and playing on tracks for Jan & Dean when he wrote a #1 hit that got him blackballed.