Andrew Michael Rourke (born 17 January 1964) is an English musician, best known as the bassist of the Smiths.\n', '

Born in 1964, Rourke\'s father was Irish while his mother was English. He received an acoustic guitar from his parents when he was seven years old. At age 11 he befriended a young John Maher (the future Johnny Marr) with whom he shared an interest in music. The pair spent lunch breaks in school jamming and playing on their guitars. When Marr and Rourke formed a band, he invited Rourke (still then a guitarist) to try on bass, which he fell in love with and he stuck with ever since.\n', '

At age 15 Rourke abandoned school. He passed through a series of menial jobs and played guitar and bass in various rock bands, as well as in the short lived funk band Freak Party, with his school friend Johnny Marr.\n', '

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