Kenny Morris, the original drummer for Siouxsie and the Banshees, has died. He was 68.
News of Morris’ passing was announced Thursday (Jan. 15) by music journalist and longtime friend John Robb in the publication Louder Than War. An exact date and cause of death were not disclosed at press time.
“Kenny was a friend of ours, and it was always a pleasure to see and hang out with him when visiting Cork in Ireland, where he had been living,” Robb wrote in a lengthy tribute. “He was sweet, articulate, artistic and fascinating company and his beautiful eccentricity was adorable.”
He continued, “He would turn up in a suit and a dress with open handcuffs on one hand and the next time in a totally different yet perfectly created bricolage of style, whilst still dressing in the artful confrontation of the 1976 punk era that he was such a key part of.”
Robb noted that Morris had his “ups and downs” before moving to Ireland in 1993 and closed the tribute with a personal message to the late drummer.
“It was great to know you, Kenny and we will miss your sweet eccentricity and long WhatsApp messages and your art and your gentle presence in a cruel world,” he wrote.
Born in Essex, England, in 1957 to Irish parents, Morris studied fine art and filmmaking at North East London Polytechnic and Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts. He briefly joined his friend Sid Vicious’s band the Flowers of Romance in 1976, according to Robb.
Morris became the original drummer for Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1977, a year after vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bassist Steven Severin formed the band in London. He had first seen them perform live in September 1976, with Sex Pistols’ Vicious on drums.
“When I turned up for the audition, there was some drum kit there, and I was fiddling around trying to figure out how to even set the thing up when Nils Stevenson, the Banshees manager, came up to me: ‘You’re supposed to be a f—king drummer, aren’t ya?’” Morris recalled in a 2023 interview with Tripe + Drisheen. “I took an instant dislike to him. But by the end of the audition, we had eight songs.”
Morris recorded two albums with Siouxsie and the Banshees — The Scream (1978) and Join Hands (1979) — and played on their debut single “Hong Kong Garden,” which reached No. 7 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart.
He abruptly left the group during their 1979 tour supporting Join Hands, following an argument during a record signing. Guitarist John McKay departed at the same time. Morris was succeeded by former Slits drummer Peter “Budgie” Clarke, while McKay’s role was taken over by the Cure’s Robert Smith.
After leaving the group, Morris continued drumming, directed several short films and pursued painting and drawing. Prior to his death, he was performing with the post-punk goth band Shrine of the Vampyre and had reportedly completed a memoir scheduled for publication later this year, according to the New York Post.
