Michael Adrian Paul Joyce (born 1 June 1963) is an English drummer. He is best known as the drummer for

the Smiths The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to eme ...

, an English rock band formed in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

in 1982.

Life and career

Joyce was born in

to Irish Catholic parents, and attended St Gregory's Grammar School in the city. While

provided Joyce with his first taste of success, he had previously drummed for Manchester band The Hoax and Northern Irish punk rock group Victim. Joyce was a member of The Smiths throughout the band's existence (1982–87). Immediately after the break-up of the band, Joyce and Smiths bassist

Andy Rourke Andrew Michael Rourke (born 17 January 1964) is an English musician, best known as the bassist of the Smiths. He is known for his melodic approach to bass playing. Career Rourke's father was Irish while his mother was English. He received an a ...

played with Sinéad O'Connor. They, along with Craig Gannon, also provided the rhythm section for two singles by Smiths' singer Morrissey – " Interesting Drug" and " The Last of the Famous International Playboys" and their B-sides. Work with

Suede Suede (pronounced ) is a type of leather with a fuzzy, napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, fabrics, purses, furniture, and other items. The term comes from the French , which literally means "gloves from Sweden". The term was firs ...

, Buzzcocks,

Public Image Limited In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

, Julian Cope, P. P. Arnold and

Pete Wylie Peter James Wylie (born 22 March 1958) is an English singer/songwriter and guitarist, best known as the leader of the band variously known as Wah!, Wah! Heat, Shambeko! Say Wah!, JF Wah!, The Mighty Wah! and Wah! The Mongrel. Career Early b ...

followed throughout the 1990s. Joyce, Rourke, and Gannon reunited to work on a project with fellow Manchester musician

Aziz Ibrahim Aziz-Ur-Rahman Ibrahim (born 16 March 1964) is a British guitarist. He was born in Longsight, Manchester to Pakistani parents. He is best known for his work as guitarist with Simply Red, The Stone Roses (post-John Squire) and their former vo ...

(formerly of

the Stone Roses The Stone Roses were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. One of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the band's classic and most prominent lineup consisted of vocalist Ian Brown, ...

and

Simply Red Simply Red are a British soul and pop band formed in Manchester in 1985. The lead vocalist of the band is singer and songwriter Mick Hucknall, who, by the time the band initially disbanded in 2010, was the only original member left. Since th ...

), ex- Oasis guitarist Bonehead (as

Moondog One Louis Thomas Hardin (May 26, 1916 – September 8, 1999), known professionally as Moondog, was an American composer, musician, performer, music theoretician, poet and inventor of musical instruments. Largely self-taught as a composer, his ...

), and Vinny Peculiar.

Lawsuits

In 1996, Joyce sued former Smiths' colleagues Johnny Marr and Morrissey for an equal share of performance and

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

royalties. Joyce won the case and was awarded damages of around £1 million from Morrissey and Marr. According to Morrissey, who unsuccessfully appealed Joyce's claims, Joyce first sued Morrissey and Marr in 1989 for 25% of the Smiths' recording royalties. In 1996, Joyce won the case "on the basis of the 1890 Partnership Act". The next year (1997), according to Morrissey, "Joyce was paid £215,000 from me, and £215,000 from Johnny Marr. In 2001, as a final payment of back royalties, Johnny Marr paid Joyce £260,000 plus '

costs In production, research, retail, and accounting, a cost is the value of money that has been used up to produce something or deliver a service, and hence is not available for use anymore. In business, the cost may be one of acquisition, in which ...

'. At this time I orrisseywas in the US and was not served with court proceedings, so Joyce obtained a

Default Judgment Default judgment is a binding judgment in favor of either party based on some failure to take action by the other party. Most often, it is a judgment in favor of a plaintiff when the defendant has not responded to a summons or has failed to appear ...

. He then put forward a claim from me for £688,000 —well above and beyond the amount Johnny Marr was ordered to pay. In my absence, the figure was not contested. Since 2001, and because of the Default Judgment against me, Joyce has taken out Third Party Orders against the following societies: my personal bank account in England, Smiths royalties from Warner Music, my personal PRS royalties, my personal PPL royalties, and he has attempted to seize UK concert fees from venue to venue. This money, to date, totals £700,000. This figure is in addition to the figures mentioned above." Morrissey went on to claim that " heJoyce action is continuous. Because of his Default Judgment he continues to take my royalties, and the royalties of others mentioned above, from Warner Music—consequently I have not received record royalties since 2001."

2007 onward

In July 2007, Joyce, along with former bandmate

, released ''Inside The Smiths'', a DVD which chronicled their experiences of being in the band. In October 2007, Joyce toured the UK playing drums for Vinny Peculiar with Bonehead ( Oasis) on bass guitar, and in 2008 ran a successful night at The Brickhouse in Manchester called "Alternative Therapy". In parallel to his music career, Joyce works as a DJ and broadcaster, including occasional appearances on BBC 6 Music. Joyce has hosted shows on
East Village Radio
an internet station. Since October 2017, Joyce has hosted a weekly radio show on Manchester radio station

XS Manchester XS Manchester is an Independent Local Radio station serving Greater Manchester, broadcasting a mix of indie and alternative rock music, speech and news output. The station is owned and operated by Communicorp UK and broadcasts from studios at ...

. In October 2018, the show was nominated in the 'Best Specialist Music Show' category at the ARIAS 2018 radio awards. Joyce is a patron of the Manchester-based charit
Back on Track
as part of this role, Joyce ran a special cooking session with some of the charity's clients, during which they cooked vegetables from his allotment, and featured as a story on ITV Granada.

Personal life

Joyce married Christina Riley in 1994. The couple have three children. He is a vegetarian. Joyce is a Manchester City fan, and is sometimes interviewed at City Square before important home matches.

Discography

The Smiths

Morrissey

* ''

Bona Drag ''Bona Drag'' is a compilation album by Morrissey released on 15 October 1990. The album features an array of Morrissey's most popular songs from his early solo career, most of which had not been released on any previous album. The album name m ...

'' (1990)

References

External links

Official website

Official The Smiths Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joyce, Mike 1963 births Living people Buzzcocks members English people of Irish descent English rock drummers Musicians from Manchester British indie pop musicians British indie rock musicians British alternative rock musicians People from Fallowfield The Smiths members