Tributes paid to ‘Edinburgh Man’ and Fall singer Mark E Smith

Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh has led tributes to Mark E Smith, the lead singer of the cult Manchester band The Fall, following his death aged 60.

The novelist was one of many leading figures who expressed their condolences on Twitter.

Welsh wrote: “Mark E Smith was a complex, driven man. I greatly admired him as an artist and – both despite and because of his eccentricities – really liked him as a person. Riot in Righteousness, Mark mate.” Comedian Vic Reeves described the singer as “my good friend and my hero,” while broadcaster Danny Baker compared him to the late David Bowie, saying his influence transcended generations.

Jonathan Ross wrote that Mr Smith was “one of a kind”.

Garbage, led by Edinburgh’s Shirley Manson, said: “Mark E Smith we will never forget you coming to see us play. Especially when you said watching us play was like watching paint dry. RIP.”

The leader of cult Manchester band The Fall died on Wednesday.

Broadcaster Lauren Laverne added: “Oh man. Mark E Smith. One of my biggest heroes. Had a nightmare interviewing him (of course) but then he put me in a song. So sharp, clever and untouchably cool. Thanks for the music, MES.”

Smith’s former wife and fellow band member Brix Smith Start tweeted that she was initially too upset to comment but said yesterday on Twitter: “Mark defied convention and definition - he was a true artist. He was my music mentor, my cultural anchor, and my first love. I feel deeply saddened by his passing, but I feel greater joy for having shared his journey.”

The singer’s last performance was at Glasgow’s QMU in November 2017.

He had a strong connection with Scotland, having lived in Edinburgh from 1989 to 1990.

He decided to move to Leith after divorcing Ms Smith Start in January 1989.

He once said of his time in the area: “I was accepted straight away. Leith’s good, it’s a bit more of the real Edinburgh.”

After his initial spell in the north of the city, Mr Smith spent a period in the New Town.

His fondness for Auld Reekie was captured in The Fall’s song Edinburgh Man, which fea-

0 Mark E Smith performs at the Liquid Rooms in Edinburgh and out and about during his time in Leith tured on the band’s 1991 album Shift-work.

The song is an ode to Mr Smith’s time in the capital with the lines: “Don’t want to be anywhere else. Just want to be in Edinburgh.”

In a 1994 TV feature for Granada Tonight, in which he gave a guided tour of the capital, he jokingly referred to it as “a poor man’s San Francisco” due to the prevalence of hills.

He was also a fan of the city’s Georgian architecture.

Though, in typically cynical style, he thought Scots were “too tight to knock the buildings down”.