The Fall's Mark E Smith dies aged 60

His partner, Pam Van Damned, who also manages the band, said Smith passed away at home on Wednesday morning.

The Fall were forced to cancel a string of shows last year because of Smith’s health.

Born in Salford in March 1957, Smith wrote music in his lunch breaks while working on the Manchester docks as a shipping clerk.

After attending a Sex Pistols gig in 1976, he quit the docks for The Fall.

He decided to pursue music because “whatever I did would have to be better than most of the so-called punk s***e I was hearing at the time”.

Smith launched the band with friends Martin Bramah, Tony Friel and Una Baines, who missed their first gig because she could not afford a keyboard.

Their first two albums – Live At The Witch Trials and Dragnet – were released in 1979.

Over four decades Smith is said to have hired and fired dozens of musicians.

He once reportedly sacked a sound technician for ordering a salad.

Inspired more by writers than musicians, those he found influential included Thomas Hardy, Philip K Dick, Edgar Allan Poe and HP Lovecraft.

Smith was married three times, to Brix Smith, Safron Pryor and Elena Poulou.

In an online tribute, Brix Smith said: “I’m taking the news in right now. I will put a statement out tomorrow.

“I hope you will all understand. Thank you for your lovely messages, they mean a lot.”