The Fall frontman Mark E. Smith is dead at age 60.
Smith’s death was announced by The Fall’s manager and Smith’s partner Pam Vander is a statement through Facebook.
It is with deep regret that we announce the passing of Mark E. Smith. He passed this morning at home. A more detailed statement will follow in the next few days. In the meantime, Pam & Mark’s family request privacy at this sad time.
Mark E. Smith formed The Fall in 1976 in Prestwich near Manchester in the UK. He was inspired to form a punk band after seeing The Sex Pistols at the Manchester Free Trade Hall gig in June ’76. That gig would later be written up as historic. While only 40 people attended the show, the audience included Smith, Morrissey, Bernard Sumner, Ian Curtis and Peter Hook and Mick Hucknall, all before they formed their own iconic bands.
Smith sang vocals on the Gorillaz track ‘Glitter Freeze’ from the Plastic Beach album.
The Fall released 32 albums between 1979 and 2017. The most recent was ‘New Facts Emerge’ in 2017. The album caused controversy when it was released on 28 July 2017 because of the song ‘Victoria Train Station Massacre’. The Ariana Grande terrorist attack had occurred just weeks earlier. The station is partly under the site of the bombing.
The Fall never achieved the successes of their contemporaries like the Sex Pistols, The Smiths or New Order but they did manage one Top 10 album ‘The Infotainment Scan’ in 1993.
The Fall’s biggest UK hit was ‘1987’s ‘There’s A Ghost In My House’ although in New Zealand they managed three Top 40 hits with ‘Totally Wired’ (1980), ‘Lie Dream of a Casino Soul’ (1981) and ‘The Man Whose Head Expanded’ (1983).
Although Smith’s cause of death has not been revealed he cancelled The Fall 2017 dates because of a “bizarre and rare medical issues… connected to his throat, mouth/dental & respiratory system” and later before one show in a wheelchair.
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