{"id":452837,"date":"2026-05-30T14:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T14:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/452837\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T14:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T14:58:11","slug":"johnny-marr-lost-his-first-guitar-to-curly-watts-from-coronation-street-but-thats-all-right-hes-a-nice-fella","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/452837\/","title":{"rendered":"Johnny Marr lost his first guitar to Curly Watts from \u2018Coronation Street\u2019: “But that’s all right, he’s a nice fella”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Johnny Marr<\/a> has revealed that Kevin Kennedy, the actor who played Curly Watts on Coronation Street, was responsible for losing his first guitar.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Johnny Marr: \u201cBangers? They\u2019re not to be sniffed at\u201d\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Having both grown up in Wythenshawe, Marr and Kennedy had attended the same primary school, and had played in a band called the Paris Valentinos \u2013 which also included Marr\u2019s future bandmate Andy Rouke \u2013 before Marr formed The Smiths and Kennedy had graced Corrie\u2019s cobbles.<\/p>\n

In a new episode of Origin Stories <\/a>on Apple Music, Marr reflected on those early days, and playfully revealed that Kennedy, whose career in music<\/a> has seen him star in productions including We Will Rock You and Rock of Ages, was to blame for the loss of his first-ever guitar.<\/p>\n

Explaining that it was long lost, Marr said: \u201cSomeone very kindly bought me a version of it, it\u2019s an old Vox guitar,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t have my very first one. And what happened to it actually was a mate of mine back in the day, he borrowed it and never gave it me back.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe says that it got damaged. I\u2019m talking about you, Curly Watts from Coronation Street.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite likely knowing the guitar would be worth a lot if it were still in his possession, he made it clear there were no hard feelings, adding, \u201cYeah, Kevin Kennedy had it from back in the day, but that\u2019s alright, he\u2019s a nice fella.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JohnnyJohnny Marr appears on Origin Stories on Apple Music, 2026. CREDIT: PRESS<\/p>\n

With that one lost, he said his current favourite guitar was the red Gibson Les Paul that he got just before recording the \u2018Meat Is Murder\u2019 album. \u201cIt\u2019s actually not the most valuable in monetary terms,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I played that on \u2018Dogs of Lust\u2019, \u2018Slow Emotion Replay\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been on quite a lot of records, some Pet Shop Boys stuff.\u201d It also appeared on\u00a0Gorillaz<\/a>\u2018 latest record\u00a0\u2018The Mountain\u2019<\/a>, which Marr contributed to after making an appearance with the band in London last September<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the conversation, he also provided an update on his next studio album, which will be his first full-length record since \u2018Fever Dreams Pts 1\u20134\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so old school, my head is like \u2018I\u2019ve made this record, this album\u2019, but I\u2019m all about the single, believe it or not,\u201d he said. \u201cDoes the single even\u2026 are they even a thing anymore? I think I\u2019ve got a few singles on it which, you know, I\u2019m such a creature of habit. I\u2019m excited about possibly hearing on the radio, right?<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you get your sound then it becomes about the more, I think, deeper aspects for me now. Like are the lyrics what I want? Have I expressed myself well, have I got some good titles? Is the singing better than the last album? How\u2019s my stagecraft? And I think they should be your concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later this year, Marr is set to play the biggest solo headline date of his career at Wembley Arena<\/a>, joined by special guest\u00a0Baxter Dury<\/a> \u2013 \u00a0you\u2019ll be able to buy your tickets here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That new London date is set to follow his summer headline concerts at Manchester\u2019s Castlefield Bowl<\/a> and Dublin\u2019s Iveagh Gardens, as well as numerous stops across Europe this July.<\/p>\n

It comes after the musician wrapped up his \u2018California Calling\u2019 North American tour earlier this year, where fans were treated to a set of hits, classics and brand new and unreleased music. Marr then joined Pet Shop Boys on stage in London to perform some deep cuts and rarities<\/a>\u00a0in early April.<\/p>\n

Last year saw Marr release a new live album,\u00a0\u2018Look Out Live!\u2019<\/a>. The project comprises 22 tracks recorded at the Eventim Apollo in London as part of his \u2018Spirit Power\u2019 live tour in 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Johnny Marr has revealed that Kevin Kennedy, the actor who played Curly Watts on Coronation Street, was responsible…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,591,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-452837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-indie","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}