Morrissey said on Wednesday that he was putting his financial stake in the Smiths up for sale because he had been “burned out by any and all connections” to his onetime bandmates.
The singer, whose full name is Steven Patrick Morrissey, wrote on his website that he had “no choice” but to offer his interests — including full and exclusive rights to the music and lyrics of all songs and recordings by the Smiths — to anyone who would buy them. The British rock band was known as one of the most influential of the 1980s before a bitter breakup in 1987.
“I have had enough of malicious associations,” Morrissey, 66, wrote in a post titled, “A Soul for Sale.” “With my entire life I have paid my rightful dues to these songs and these images. I would now like to live disassociated from those who wish me nothing but ill-will and destruction, and this is the only resolution.”
A sale, he indicated, would be good for his health, and he included a Gmail address for prospective buyers to write to. (An email sent by The New York Times to that address bounced back.)
The Smiths split up over disagreements between Morrissey and Johnny Marr, the band’s guitarist and his co-composer. Morrissey went on to have a solo career and release 13 albums.
Morrissey is known for his artful vulnerability, dark humor and melancholic vocal style. He sang about unrequited love, betrayal and pain, with lyrics including, “Why do I give valuable time / To people who don’t care if I live or die?” and “When you try to break my spirit, it won’t work / Because there’s nothing left to break.”
Morrissey’s early work for the Smiths was seen as resolutely anti-monarchist and contemptuous of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Britain. In more recent years, some fans expressed discomfort with Morrissey’s political views, which seemed to have shifted. He made statements in support of For Britain, a small far-right party that folded in 2022, and in 2019 he performed on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” wearing a For Britain button.
A year ago, Morrissey wrote on his website that he had agreed to a “lucrative” offer for him and Marr to embark on a global tour in 2025. He said Marr had ignored the offer. A representative for Marr did not respond to a request for comment.
In January, Morrissey wrote that there was “an obvious media shift to delete me from being the central essence of the Smiths.”
“This cannot work because I invented the group name, the song-titles, the album titles, the artwork, the vocal melodies, and all of the lyrical sentiments came from my heart,” he wrote, adding: “It’s a bit like saying Mick Jagger had nothing to do with the Stones.”
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