- Death of the Salford-born singer was announced on the band's Twitter page
- Statement released by his manager confirmed he passed away this morning
- Smith had to cancel a number of gigs last year due to 'bizarre medical issues'
By Charlie Bayliss For Mailonline
Published: 20:18 GMT, 24 January 2018 | Updated: 22:01 GMT, 24 January 2018
The Fall lead singer Mark E Smith has died aged 60 after cancelling a series of gigs last year because he was suffering from 'bizarre and rare medical issues'.
The singer-songwriter, who co-founded the post-punk group at just 19, passed away on Wednesday morning.
Smith's partner Pam Vander, who is also the band's manager, said in a statement: '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.'
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The Fall's lead singer Mark E Smith passed away this morning, his manager confirmed
Further details have not been given but last year the band were forced to cancel a string of shows due to the musician's ill health
Mark E Smith performing at the Green Man Music Festival in Wales, August 2015
Vander, who previously used the stage name Pam Van Damned, said in a message posted on Twitter that it was 'the day I've been dreading'.
Further details have not been given but last year the band were forced to cancel a string of shows due to the musician's ill health.
A message on the band's website in August cancelling gigs in the US said it was 'due mostly to terrible timing, reality and a mix of bizarre and rare (true to form) medical issues that Mark is currently being treated for'.
It continued: 'Unfortunately it would be a gamble on his health to fly anywhere over the next couple of months.
'Mark's current problems are connected to his throat, mouth/dental & respiratory system… so throwing all the meds together and continuing with the travel/shows would certainly harm any progress that we have made over the past few weeks.'
Simon Wolstencroft, bandmate and drummer with The Fall, told the BBC: '(He was) a very good friend to me. He really looked after me in my 11-year tenure with the band, from (1986) and through (1997).
'Always made me laugh, and what an iconic singer to have worked for. I'm very saddened by the news, although it's not totally unexpected at this point, because we heard he was very ill.
The musician said of Smith's impact: 'Basically, (Radio 1 DJ John Peel) played the band all the time and I was lucky enough to do a lot of Radio 1 sessions with him. It's just so sad, really.
Mark E Smith was famous for his witty one-liners and cutting sense of humour
A portrait of Manchester musician Mark E Smith of The Fall from March 2011
The Fall singer Mark E Smith died aged 60 at home on Wednesday morning, the band's manager Pam Van Damned said
Mark E Smith: The Fall frontman’s life in quotes
- 'Nuking Russia might not be a bad idea as far as the bleedin’ world is concerned. They’ve plunged a lot of people into miserable lives. You’ve only got to be in East Germany to see it. It’s a horrible way to live. It’s like Doncaster.'
- 'If anybody says to me I've got a problem with the drink, I tell them I do have a problem – like where to get it from after 11 o'clock.'
- (On being angry): 'People still cross the road from me; I’ve still got that. I can clear a pub when I want to. It’s a talent.'
- (On his politics): 'I enjoyed Nick Clegg losing his seat and it also proved how clueless all these political journalists are. The barmaid knows more about politics then they do, they’re all ***ing bluffers.'
- (On his approach to life): 'I agree with Col. Qaddafi. Too much laptops, too much Nescafé, that is what he said, you know. It's quite biblical actually, it was predicted in the Bible.'
- (On dealing with people): 'I like to push people till I get the truth out of them. Get them drunk, or whatever. Then discover what they really think. Push them and push them and push them.'
- (Asked what he would do if he was Prime Minister): 'I'd halve the price of cigarettes, double the tax on health food and declare war on France.'
- (On The Fall's fanbase): 'He told me that I didn't understand, that we were from the black industrial wastes of north England, or something, and that we didn't understand the internet. I told him Fall fans invented the internet. They were on there in 1982.'
'Of course, his influences travel a long, long way to bands like Pulp, and new bands now like Cabbage, and many other bands have been influenced by him. It's a sad day.'
Asked why the former drummer lasted so long in the band, Wolstencroft said: '(11 years) was a long time but Mark had a mutual respect for myself which is why I lasted so long. And he was a funny guy, very intelligent, and of course, his lyrics superb.
'I think he veered away from the mainstream deliberately all along. When computer technology came out, he didn't really want to know about that.
'He just wanted to write down what he'd been thinking about and what he thought about people.
'Just recently, his interviews have been the most entertaining thing about Mark, rather than the actual band.
'He's always got a good quote and some of it's true, some of it not quite so true, but I always enjoyed listening to his interview after I've left the band.'
DJ Rob Da Bank was among those to pay tribute to Smith, calling him a 'legend'.
He said on Twitter: 'Oh no..devastated to hear that Mark E Smith has died… The Fall played at Bestival and Camp Bestival..once after I'd spent an hour in their portakabin persuading a tipsy Mark that going on after the naked @cubanbrothers would make sense..legend! RIP .'
Jeremy Vine tweeted: 'Mark E Smith – one of the greatest rock stars ever produced by this country. The last time I saw The Fall, in 2017, he felt unwell on stage and sang all the songs from inside his dressing room.'
Simone Butler of Primal Scream posted a message on Twitter saying: 'Thanku for the music.'
Mark E Smith left his own statement regarding last year's cancelled shows. It read: 'This idiotic idea to do both shows was purely my idea, against the advice of Pamela and The Fall group, agent and promoter.
'Hope to replace shows within 4 – 6 weeks. In the interim we have eight new songs ready to go and will try and let you hear a few before Christmas.
'From head patient to you, the patients. I love you all but cannot embrace you all, Mark E. Smith. (sic)'
Within The Fall, Smith was more than just a founding member, and they were more than a band.
He was their driving force, the aggressive general, a ranting rebellious boss who embraced chaos and often felt the desire to poke his tongue out – most notably when discussing the death of John Peel live on Newsnight in 2004.
The Fall were not a band, but a cult, it was often said. Except not quite a cult because most cults don’t want you to leave, but with Smith, you often did.
For four decades the man hired and fired dozens of musicians at will, and it was not just those on stage who had to fear for their jobs – he once reportedly fired a sound technician for ordering a salad.
Inspired more by literary giants than musicians, he was an extraordinary lyricist with an aggressive bite.
Smith has cited dozens of writers and poets as influential, including Thomas Hardy, Philip K Dick, Edgar Allan Poe and HP Lovecraft, whose short story The Colour Out Of Space he read for the BBC Collective website in 2007.
His writing style often changed. Sometimes intricate stories laced with sci-fi madness, other times wacky one-liners which pierced through the chaos.
Born into a working-class family in Broughton, Salford, on March 5 1957, Smith grew up in Prestwich.
He first found work in a meat factory and then as a shipping clerk on the Manchester docks where on his lunch breaks he would write music.
In 1976 he quit the docks for The Fall after attending a Sex Pistols Gig.
He was, in his own words, inspired because “whatever I did would have to be better than most of the so-called punk shite I was hearing at the time”.
He launched the band alongside friends Martin Bramah, Tony Friel and Una Baines – who missed their first gig as she could not afford a keyboard.
Their first two albums, Live At The Witch Trials and Dragnet, arrived in 1979.
The former came as a whirlwind punk record while the latter lost the aggression of Bramah’s guitar as he became an early member of The Fallen club (although he returned in 1989).
It was an important reshuffle as former bassist Marc Riley’s foreboding sound is largely present in their continuing sound.
Married three times, he first tied the knot in July 1983 with Brix Smith who instantly became a band member.
After their divorce he was briefly married to Safron Pryor – who had run the band’s fan club – during the Nineties before meeting Elena Poulou in Berlin in December 2000.
She joined The Fall as keyboardist in 2002.
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