Andy Rourke health: What happened to Andy Rourke? – Andy Rourke, the bassist for The Smiths, died at the age of 59 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
Johnny Marr, a fellow band member, announced Rourke’s death on Friday, May 19, and explained the circumstances surrounding the latter’s death.
Marr wrote:
Rourke was best known as The Smiths’ principal bassist from 1982 to 1986, and again from 1986 to 1987. Rourke appeared on all four of The Smiths’ studio albums: ‘The Smiths in 1984, ‘Meat Is Murder’ in 1985, ‘The Queen Is Dead’ in 1986, and ‘Strangeways, Here We Come’ in 1987.
Outside of The Smiths, Rourke was a member of the ensemble Freebass, which included Peter Hook from New Order and Mani from the Stone Roses.
He also worked with The Pretenders on their 1994 album ‘Last of the Independents,’ Killing Joke, and former Oasis guitarist Bonehead on Moondog One.