Johnny Marr Childhood — Ardwick, Manchester

Johnny Marr — John Martin Maher — grew up in Ardwick, east of Manchester city centre, the son of Irish immigrants, and taught himself guitar with an obsessive dedication that by his mid-teens had made him one of the most technically accomplished young guitarists in Manchester. He absorbed folk guitar from Bert Jansch, rhythm and blues from Chuck Berry, and American funk from Chic, fusing these influences into a style unlike anyone else's — ringing, rhythmically complex, built on open tunings and capo work that gave songs multiple harmonic layers simultaneously.

Marr's walk to Morrissey's front door in Stretford in 1982 was the most consequential cold call in British pop history. His guitar playing in the Smiths was the structural and emotional counterweight to Morrissey's voice and words — where Morrissey was morbid and literary, Marr was exuberant and dancing. After the Smiths ended in 1987, Marr worked as a session musician and collaborator — Electronic with Bernard Sumner, the Pretenders, Modest Mouse, the Cribs — before launching a well-received solo career.

Ardwick is an inner-city neighbourhood east of Manchester that has seen significant redevelopment and population change. There is no formal Marr landmark in the area. Manchester's broader music heritage is commemorated primarily around the Northern Quarter and the city centre's venues — the venues where the Smiths and their contemporaries played are more findable than the childhood homes.