Kenny Morris, the original drummer of the British punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees, has died. He was 68.
John Robb, a music journalist and the late drummer’s longtime friend, announced the news on Thursday. No cause of death has been revealed.
“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 touching tribute. “He was sweet, articulate, artistic and fascinating company and his beautiful eccentricity was adorable.”
“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,” he added.
Robb acknowledged that Morris experienced his share of “ups and downs” before moving to Ireland in 1993, and ended his heartfelt tribute with a sweet message to the late musician.
“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 concluded.
Born in Essex, England, on Feb. 1, 1957, Morris studied fine art and filmmaking at North East London Polytechnic before briefly joining early punk band The Flowers of Romance with Sid Vicious in late 1976.
But it wasn’t until 1977 that Morris joined Siouxsie and the Banshees as the group’s original drummer.
Siouxsie Sioux, now 68, and Steven Severin, now 70, had formed the rock band in London in 1976 shortly after opening for the Sex Pistols that September.
“I thought I definitely wanted to be in a rock ’n’ roll band when I grew up,” Morris said during an interview in 2023. “Everything about the lifestyle, even at that age, appealed to me.”
Morris also opened up about auditioning for Siouxsie and the Banshees and how he managed to land the drumming gig.
“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?’” he recalled.
“I took an instant dislike to him,” he added. “But by the end of the audition, we had eight songs.”
After joining Siouxsie and the Banshees, Morris played on their first two records: 1978’s “The Scream” and 1979’s “Join Hands.”
However, Morris and the group’s guitarist, John McKay, abruptly quit the band after an argument broke out during a record signing event in September 1979.
The pair’s sudden departure came in the middle of a major tour to promote “Join Hands,” and Morris was ultimately replaced by The Slits’ former drummer Budgie while McKay was replaced by The Cure’s Robert Smith.
Siouxsie and the Banshees transitioned from post-punk to new wave after Morris and McKay’s exits, while Morris went on to pursue other drumming opportunities before enrolling in film school.
Before his death, the late musician was said to have started drumming again for the Dublin-based post-punk goth band Shrine of the Vampyre. He also reportedly wrote a memoir that is scheduled to be released later this year.
The Post has reached out to Sioux’s rep for comment.