Johnny Marr (born John Martin Maher on 31 October 1963 in Ardwick, Manchester) is an English guitarist, keyboardist, harmonica player and singer, and is best known as the man behind the music of The Smiths. In 2006, Marr became a member of Modest Mouse.

Like many Mancunians – including his bandmates in The Smiths – Marr is of Irish Catholic descent; his parents emigrated from County Kildare to Manchester in the 1950s. He attended St Augustines RC Grammar School, which then merged with other schools to form a Comprehensive School. Marr started out as a football player, being approached by Nottingham Forest F.C. and also having had trials with Manchester City F.C., whom he supports. In an interview with FourFourTwo magazine, Marr said that "I was good enough for City, but they didn't follow up because I was probably the only player out there wearing eyeliner.".

In 1982, Marr began writing songs with Morrissey, after they formed The Smiths. To complete the lineup, they recruited Mike Joyce on drums and Dale Hibbert on bass guitar. After two gigs, Hibbert was replaced by Marr's friend Andy Rourke. By then, Morrissey had dropped his first name and Maher had changed his name to Marr to avoid confusion with the Buzzcocks drummer.

Having achieved commercial and critical success with landmark albums such as The Queen is Dead, The Smiths were soon stars in the UK and Ireland, but did not have the same degree of success elsewhere. Worldwide success came later, but not while the band was still together; Marr eventually left the band due to his frustrations with Morrissey, stemming from Morrissey's infatuation with 1960s pop artists such as Cilla Black. Having to shoulder increasing managerial duties and other day-to-day pressures also contributed.

From The Smiths' year of inception to the breakup of the band 5 years later in 1987, Marr and Morrissey co-wrote enough material for four albums, as well as numerous B-sides and other unreleased materials that eventually appeared on one compilation or another. Today, the Morrissey-Marr songwriting duo is held in the highest esteem among critics and fans alike, due to Morrissey's groundbreaking lyrics and Marr's highly melodic and harmonious music.

It was announced in December 2005 that Marr would be performing with former Smiths bandmate Andy Rourke at the Manchester v Cancer benefit concert at Manchester's MEN Arena on Saturday 28 January 2006, which was also to feature New Order, Doves and Badly Drawn Boy — with whom Rourke plays bass guitar.

It was rumoured that Mike Joyce and/or Morrissey would play alongside their former bandmates for the first time since The Smiths split up in 1987, fulfilling the much hoped-for Smiths reunion. However Marr dispelled rumors of the reunion by posting on his official website that THE SMITHS WILL NOT BE RE-FORMING AT [THE] CONCERT. However, Andy Rourke did join Marr onstage to play The Smiths' classic "How Soon Is Now?"

After the demise of The Smiths in 1987, Marr played guitar and harmonica for The The and also worked with New Order's Bernard Sumner to form Electronic. He also became a sought-after session player and producer, writing, touring and recording with, among others, Bryan Ferry, The Pretenders, Kirsty MacColl, Karl Bartos of Kraftwerk, Talking Heads, Black Grape, Billy Bragg, Pet Shop Boys, Beck and Oasis.

Johnny Marr and the Healers first appeared in 2000 when Marr started looking for musicians. He recruited the son of Beatle Ringo Starr, Zak Starkey, Cavewaves, Lee Spencer and Kula Shaker bassist Alonza Bevan. The band took two years to complete, because Marr wanted members to be chosen "by chemistry." The debut of the new band was released in 2003, where Marr sang and wrote the lyrics. The second LP was originally going to be released in April 2005 and a short tour was expected soon after that, but as Starkey currently is involved with Oasis and the Who, and Bevan has regrouped with Kula Shaker for a successful re-union, it is unknown when or whether a next LP will come.

In 2006, it was confirmed that Marr is now an official member of the American band Modest Mouse. It was revealed that he not only wrote some of the songs on the album that was being produced at the time, but was also playing guitar. [1] According to band leader Isaac Brock, he will also be touring with the band in support of the new album, titled We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. [2] This was confirmed by a post on the official Johnny Marr website early February. The album he penned with Modest Mouse peaked at number 1 in the American Billboard late March 2007. For Johnny Marr this is the first time he has had a number one record in the U.S. The highest chart position before that one was with Electronic who went Top 40 in the singles chart with "Getting Away With It".[1]