The "Whatever Happened To..." Thread

[Young And Alive]

There have been several Morrissey collaborators who have come and gone, for reasons I don't know about. Could someone please tell me why the working relationships between Moz and the following came to an end? (And no, J Marr is not on the list).

*Stephen Street - He stopped working with Morrissey in 1990 or thereabouts didn't he? I heard there was some disagreement about royalties (Hmmm...who does that remind you of!?)

*Spencer Cobrin - Why, why, why?

*Gary Day - First time around ('94?) I heard he was sacked (yet he still gets a 'thank you' in the Vauxhall and I booklet). Second time around ('07) I heard he requested some time away from the tour to spend more time with his family. This seems fairly decent of him. Therefore it's the '94 separation I'm more interested in.

*Alain Whyte - This is the biggie. Moz's most prolific songwriting partner since Johnny Marr. The rumour was that he was ill and therefore left the 2004 tour. I don't want to get into the ins and outs of his illness because it's none of my business, it's just that I also heard he wanted to stop working with Moz in order to concentrate on Red Lightning. Now that RL is over, could a return to the Moz Camp be on the cards? I know he's still part of the songwriting team, but perhaps Jesse Tobias and Boz Boorer are fulfilling all of the live guitarist duties. On the other hand, I wonder what Moz backed by 3 guitars would sound like!?

*Mark Nevin - Man largely responsible for Morrissey's worst solo outing in Kill Uncle. Many fans were glad to see the back of him. However, I think KU is a charming album in it's own way. As far as I'm aware, Moz severed this particular alliance due to the fact that he was itching to form a band he could tour with. Nevin for some reason was unable to do this, and afterwards Boz, Alain, Gary and Spencer were found. The rest is history.

*Vini Reilly - Left around the same time as Street didn't he? Royalties again?

*Andy Rourke/Mike Joyce - Rourke wrote a handful of songs with Moz in the early solo days. I assume Moz dismissed them because he and Joyce were pushing ahead with the royalties issue, however Morrissey seemed more than happy to perform with them at Wolverhampton '88, despite knowing that they were bringing him to court. Strange...

Hope I haven't missed anyone out who you yourselves are curious about. If so, ask away - this thread isn't just for my benefit!

Thanks.

 

[Vauxhall95]

I think the documentary "A Jewel in the Crown" addressed some of the collaborators you referenced. Obviously, the film is unofficial and you are only getting one side of the story, but it's better than nothing...

 

[MozIsGod]

*Spencer Cobrin - Why, why, why?

*Gary Day - First time around ('94?) I heard he was sacked (yet he still gets a 'thank you' in the Vauxhall and I booklet). Second time around ('07) I heard he requested some time away from the tour to spend more time with his family. This seems fairly decent of him. Therefore it's the '94 separation I'm more interested in.

*Alain Whyte - This is the biggie. Moz's most prolific songwriting partner since Johnny Marr. The rumour was that he was ill and therefore left the 2004 tour. I don't want to get into the ins and outs of his illness because it's none of my business, it's just that I also heard he wanted to stop working with Moz in order to concentrate on Red Lightning. Now that RL is over, could a return to the Moz Camp be on the cards? I know he's still part of the songwriting team, but perhaps Jesse Tobias and Boz Boorer are fulfilling all of the live guitarist duties. On the other hand, I wonder what Moz backed by 3 guitars would sound like!?

*Vini Reilly - Left around the same time as Street didn't he? Royalties again?

Apparently Morrissey made a remark about Spencer in an interview of some sort. Spencer supposedly wasn't fond of the remark, and left the band. He then started his own band where, oddly, he plays guitar instead of drums. I read this around a year or two ago, and I'm not exactly sure if it was true. Last I know, Spencer is producing and working with films.

I read that Gary was sacked because of alcohol/drug problems. He cleaned himself up, and rejoined. As for now, he had left to spend time with his family, but I have now read that he's left permanently to focus on his own band as well (where Alain plays guitar). They have a video called "Kid From Mars" that you can check out on YouTube.

Speaking of Alain, he's still part of the band. I read that he has contributed several new songs for Morrissey.

Vini Reilly left mainly because of an issue in his contract: Factory wouldn't let him appear without their consent of label. Also, Reilly wanted to branch Morrissey in experimentation with more strings and things of that nature. Reilly's group, "The Durutti Column" have recently completed a new album.

P.S. All of the issues that Street and Reilly were having didn't seem to matter, since Street played some bass and worked with Reilly after Viva Hate.