What is "morrissey"

Morrissey, born Steven Patrick Morrissey, English singer-songwriter and former lead singer of The Smiths

Morrissey may also refer to:

• Morrissey (surname)

Morrissey is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

• Morrissey (born 1959), English singer-songwriter
• Alan Morrissey, British actor
• Betty Morrissey (1908–1944), American film actress
• Bill Morrissey, American folk singer/songwriter
• Bill Morrissey, professional wrestler who performs as Colin Cassady
• Bobby Morrissey, Canadian politician from Prince Edward Island
• Brian Morrissey, is a co-founder of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency
• Brian Morrissey (rugby player), a former New Zealand rugby union player
• Chris Morrissey (actor/film director)
• Chris Morrissey (musician)
• Daniel Morrissey (died 1981), senior Irish politician who sat in Dáil Éireann for thirty-five years
• David Morrissey, actor
• Di Morrissey, Australian novelist
• Dick Morrissey, British jazz musician
• Dick Morrissey (hurler), Irish hurler
• Donna Morrissey, Canadian author
• Eamon Morrissey (hurler), former Irish sportsperson
• Eamon Morrissey (actor), Irish actor
• Ed Morrissey, prominent conservative American blogger
• Edmund Morrissey (died 1965), member of the Australian Labor Party
• Edward Morrissey, second ex-husband of Rev. Mary Manin Morrissey
• Frank Morrissey, former American football player and coach
• Frank Morrissey (baseball) (1876–1939), pitcher in Major League Baseball in the early twentieth century
• George Morrissey (born 1883), Australian rules footballer
• Gerry Morrissey, British trade unionist and current General Secretary of BECTU
• Gordon Morrissey (born 1894), former Australian rules footballer
• James Morrissey, PR agent and spokesperson for billionaire Denis O'Brien
• James Morrissey (footballer), former Australian rules footballer
• Jim Morrissey, former professional American football player
• John Morrissey (1831–1878), Irish born American Boxer and Politician
• John Morrissey (baseball) (1856–1884), American Major League Baseball player
• Johnny Morrissey, English footballer
• Joseph D. Morrissey, an American politician from Virginia
• Kim Morrissey, Canadian poet and playwright
• Larry Morrissey, mayor of Rockford, Illinois
• Marty Morrissey, commentator with the sports department of Radio Telefís Éireann
• Martin Óg Morrissey, (born 1934), former Irish sportsperson
• Mary Manin Morrissey, New Thought minister from Oregon, U.S.A.
• Michael Morrissey (politician) (died 1947), Irish Fianna Fáil politician
• Michael W. Morrissey (born 1954), District Attorney of Norfolk County, Massachusetts
• Michael J T Morrissey (born 1942), New Zealand poet and author
• Neil Morrissey (born 1962), English actor
• Paul Morrissey, American film director
• Paul Morrissey (disambiguation), several other people
• Peter Morrissey, Australian fashion designer
• Sinéad Morrissey, poet from Northern Ireland
• Tom Morrissey, Irish Progressive Democrats politician
• Tom Morrissey (disambiguation), several other people
• Will Morrissey, (1887–1957), American vaudevillian producer, lyricist, actor
• William Morrissey (born circa 1889), rugby union player representing Australia

Category:Surnames of Irish origin

Steven Patrick Morrissey (born 22 May 1959), professionally known only as Morrissey, is an English singer, songwriter and author. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the indie rock band The Smiths, which was active from 1982 to 1987. Since then, Morrissey has had a solo career, making the top ten of the UK Singles Chart on ten occasions.

Born in Davyhulme, Lancashire to a working-class Irish migrant family, Morrissey grew up in Manchester. As a child he developed a love of literature, kitchen sink realism, and popular music. Involved in Manchester's punk rock scene during the late 1970s, he fronted two punk bands, The Nosebleeds and Slaughter & The Dogs, with little success. Beginning a career in music journalism, he authored a number of books on music and film in the early 1980s. With Johnny Marr he established The Smiths in 1982, soon attracting national recognition for their self-titled debut album. As the band's frontman, Morrissey attracted attention both for his intelligent, witty, and sardonic lyrics and his idiosyncratic appearance; deliberately avoiding rock machismo, he cultivated the aesthetic of a social outsider who eschewed drugs and embraced celibacy. The Smiths released five further albums – including the critically acclaimed Meat is Murder and The Queen is Dead – and had a string of hit singles. Personal differences between Morrissey and Marr resulted in The Smiths' separation in 1987.

In 1988, Morrissey launched his solo career with the album Viva Hate. This and its follow-up albums – Bona Drag, Kill Uncle, Your Arsenal, and Vauxhall and I – all did well in the UK Albums Chart and spawned a number of hit singles. Having left Britain and moved to Los Angeles, during the mid-1990s Morrissey's image began to shift into that of a burlier figure, who toyed with patriotic imagery and working-class masculinity; his discussions of British national identity resulted in accusations of racism, which he denied. In the mid-to-late 1990s, his subsequent albums, Southpaw Grammar and Maladjusted, also charted but were less well received. After a hiatus between 1998 and 2003, Morrissey released a successful comeback album, You Are the Quarry, in 2004. Relocating to Italy, ensuing years saw the release of albums Ringleader of the Tormentors, Years of Refusal, and World Peace Is None of Your Business. In 2013 Morrissey released his autobiography, followed by his first novel in 2015.

Highly influential, Morrissey is widely credited as being a seminal figure in the emergence of indie rock and Britpop. He has been acclaimed as one of the greatest lyricists in British history, with his lyrics having become the subject of academic study. However, his forthright opinions – endorsing vegetarianism and animal rights, condemning royalty and prominent politicians, and questioning issues of British national and cultural identity – have courted controversy.