Johnny Marr wants to work with Alicia Keyes.
The 59-year-old rock star would love to team up with ‘New York’ songstress Alicia – whom he joined on stage at her gig in Manchester earlier this year for a performance of his song ‘This Charming Man – but also wants to team up Polly Harvey and has also just collaborated on a track with fellow rockers Blondie.
He said: “I’d like to do something with Alicia Keys. I’ve worked with her a couple of times, and she’s a really impressive person. And I’ve always had massive admiration for Polly Harvey. I could imagine something happening with Polly. And I’ve just written a new song for Blondie, which I think is pretty good. I’ve got a couple of songs on the go with Modest Mouse as well -I’m doing what I do!”
Meanwhile, the former Smiths star was asked whether he actually played his song ‘The Queen Is Dead’ when Her Late Majesty passed away at the age of 96 in September following a record-breaking 70year- reign and explained that “in all honesty” he was out of the country and didn’t particularly engage with the period of national mourning.
He told MOJO Magazine: “Well, I was out of the country, so I didn’t really engage with it very much. In all honesty, I just saw the Queen’s passing as being the passing of a 96-year-old woman. I’ve never been too drawn into debates about the monarchy be- cause, from being a little boy, they were pretty much meaningless to me. I didn’t see any evidence of them in the Northwest. It might be coming from an Irish family. I would certainly never wish any harm on anyone, and I under- stand absolutely that there’s much more to it, historically and culturally, but I don’t feel connected to that. I was more personally upset by David Bowie dying. I miss him a lot.”