Andy Rourke first met Johnny Marr at the age of 11 while living in Manchester. In 1982, after Marr and Morrissey formed their own band, they invited Rourke to come aboard as a bassist and along with drummer Mike Joyce, the 4 musicians were known collectively as The Smiths.

Rourke played on The Smiths’ four-albums (1984’s self-titled debut, 1985’s Meat Is Murder, 1986’s The Queen Is Dead and 1987’s Strangeways, Here We Come), Johnny Marr once said that Rourke “reinvented what it is to be a bass guitar player.”