In late 1983 Steven Patrick Morrissey launched himself upon an unsuspecting public, with his band, The Smiths. Despite the endless fanzines and magazine articles, little is known about the private life of this most complex of pop stars. This biography explores his life and career.

In late 1983 Steven Patrick Morrissey launched himself upon an unsuspecting public, with his band, The Smiths. A few months later he was on Top of the Pops, wielding a bunch of gladioli, a hearing aid dangling from his ear, blouse open to his navel, the words "Marry Me" scrawled as an invitation across his chest. The nation was divided between those who would have happily complied and those who would have rather dragged themselves through broken glass to escape. The often controversial singer is still capable of provoking extreme reactions and there are few other contemporary artists simultaneously so enigmatic, so famously difficult and so passionately, religiously loved by their fans. But despite fanzines and magazine articles, very little is known about this most private, and sexually ambivalent, of stars, whose songs include titles like "Hang the DJ", "What Difference Does it Make" and "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable". Mark Simpson explores the inner workings of one of Britain's wittiest and most complex pop stars, and examines his iconic status as the symbol of suburban alienation and bedsit angst.