English singer-songwriter Steven Patrick Morrissey was BOTD in 1959. Born in Davyhulme, Lancashire to an Irish immigrant family, he was raised in a working-class neighbourhood of Manchester. He left secondary school with no qualifications, studying at Stretford Technical College where he developed a love of literature, adopting Oscar Wilde as his patron saint. After a brief tenure in punk band The Nosebleeds, he worked as a music journalist, writing extended pieces about Glam Rock band The New York Dolls and James Dean. In 1982, he and his friend Johnny Marr formed the alternative rock band The Smiths, releasing their first self-titled album in 1984. Abandoning the prevailing fashion for synth-pop, they adopted an edgier rock sound inspired by the New York Dolls and The Velvet Underground, combined with Morrissey’s witty, sardonic lyrics about sexual longing and social alienation. They quickly developed a cult following with a series of hit songs including This Charming Man, Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now, Bigmouth Strikes Again, Girlfriend in a Coma and Shoplifters of the World Unite. Onstage, Morrissey adopted a flamboyant and androgynous persona, throwing gladioli into the audience in tribute to Wilde, remaining playfully vague about his sexuality and employing homoerotic references in his lyrics and album cover art. Many of his lyrics caused controversy, notably Suffer Little Children, a ballad about English child killer Myra Hindley and Margaret on the Guillotine, imagining the public execution of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. After disbanding in 1987, he pursued a solo career, drawing controversy for his hardcore stance on vegetarianism and his support for far-right and anti-immigrationist politics. Famously secretive about his sexuality, he described himself as celibate for many years, eventually admitted in a 1989 interview to being attracted to men and women. In his 2013 memoir, he acknowledged a three-year relationship with boxer Jake Walters, and another with a young Italian referred to only as “Gelato”. After publicly stating his intention to retire in 2014 when he turned 55, he has since released four albums, including the upcoming Without Music the World Dies. He lives between California and Switzerland (presumably for tax avoidance reasons). His relationship status is, perhaps unsurprisingly, unknown.