Is Mark E. Smith Living or Dead?

Living or Dead? Celebrities, films, tv shows, birthdays, deaths ... your one-stop shop to satisfy your morbid curiosity.

Is English singer, songwriter and musician Mark E. Smith dead? Or ... still alive?

Subscribe to Living or Dead news !!!

Celebrity death and birthday updates to your inbox!

Unsub at any time. We'll never sell your details.

By Graves Hopper

Updated 24 July 2019

Image info

Artist	Kirsteen
Credit	originally posted to Flickr as [1]
License	cc-by-sa-2.0
Desc	Mark E. Smith at The Fall gig at art show - Bloomberg Space, London
Usage	Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0

Image info/credit

English singer, songwriter and musician

Mark E. Smith is ...

Dead

Born	5 March 1957
Died	24 January 2018
Age	60 years, 10 months

About Mark E. Smith

Mark Edward Smith (5 March 1957 – 24 January 2018) was an English singer and songwriter, who was the lead singer, lyricist and only constant member of the post-punk group the Fall. Smith led the band from 1976 until his death, having formed the band after attending the June 1976 Sex Pistols gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester. During their 42-year existence, the Fall's line-up included some 60 musicians with whom Smith released 32 studio albums and numerous singles and EPs.Smith had a difficult and complex personality and was a long-term alcoholic. He was known for his biting and targeted wit, evident in interviews, for which he was much in demand by music journalists throughout his career. He was suspicious of the trappings of fame and largely avoided socialising with people associated with the music scene, including other Fall members. The dark and sardonic aspect of his personality often appears in his lyrics; he especially derided music industry people. Smith's approach to music was unconventional and he did not have a high regard for musicianship, stating that "rock & roll isn’t even music really. It's a mistreating of instruments to get feelings over".His best-known recordings include "Totally Wired" and "Hit the North", and the Fall are regarded as one of the most important and influential post-punk bands. Although Smith was difficult to work with, he was revered by fans and critics, and on his death was described as a "strange kind of antimatter national treasure".

About Death

Mark E Smith died on 24 January 2018 after a long illness with lung and kidney cancer, aged 60 years. His health had been particularly bad during 2017, which led to wheelchair-bound performances. A heavy smoker, Smith had long suffered from throat and respiratory problems. His work ethic and output, however, never declined and throughout his illness he continued to release a new album close to once a year.