Andy Rourke, 59, who played bass for The Smiths, died.
Johnny Marr stated that Rourke had pancreatic cancer.
"Andy will always be remembered as a kind and beautiful soul by everyone who knew him, and as a supremely gifted musician by people who love music," Marr said on Instagram.
"He will never die as long as his music is heard," Morrissey declared on his website. "He never knew his power, and nothing he played had been played by someone else."
Rourke's melodic bass lines were a perfect match for Marr's jangling guitars and Morrissey's vocals. If you got lost following any of the latter, the former would lead you home.
Rourke played with Marr and Morrissey throughout their individual careers after The Smiths broke up. He performed alongside Sinéad O'Connor, Badly Drawn Boy, Peter Hook, and others.
Rourke subsequently ascribed the Smiths' breakup on their fast pace of creating four great albums from 1982 to 1987.
Rourke informed MOJO magazine that he had taken classical guitar lessons but switched to bass after finding that the bassist in his early band with Marr could only play "Do not Believe A Word" by Thin Lizzy.
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