Kenny Morris (musician)


Kenny Morris is an English drummer and songwriter. He was the first studio drummer of Siouxsie and the Banshees. He joined the band in January 1977, he had attended their very first live appearance at the 100 Club a few months earlier and had been impressed by their performance. Morris's very first studio recording with the group was in November 1977 when they recorded their first John Peel session for BBC radio.
He played mostly toms. He has been cited as a major influence by several drummers of the post-punk era including Stephen Morris of Joy Division, Kevin Haskins of Bauhaus, and Paul Ferguson of Killing Joke.
During the recording of the band's debut single "Hong Kong Garden", producer Steve Lillywhite suggested him to not record all the drums at the same time. Morris did the bass drum and the snare drum first. Then he did the cymbals and the tom-toms later. Lillywhite also added echo on the drums, adding significant space to the entire recording. NME wrote that this Lillywhite's work with Morris "revolutionis the post-punk band's sound with an innovative approach to laying down the drums".
Morris played on the albums The Scream in 1978 and Join Hands and left the band in September 1979.

Life and career

Kenny Morris attended St Ignatius' College in Enfield, where he became a friend of future collaborator and film director John Maybury. Morris then attended Barnet College in London. He also studied fine art and film-making at North East London Polytechnic. He first talked with Siouxsie and the Banshees in September 1976 after seeing their first concert at the 100 Club in London. He was attending Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts when he joined Siouxsie and the Banshees in January 1977. He played cymbals-less drumming on most of their early songs in 1977.
After leaving the Banshees, Morris worked as a drummer with Helen Terry and other musicians for live stage sets. He recorded and produced a 12" inch vinyl featuring two spoken words by Dorothée Lalanne; "La Main Morte" and "Le Testament d'Auguste Rodin". "La Main Morte" was a film soundtrack co-composed with John Maybury and Jean-Pierre Baudry. "La Main Morte" was released on Genesis P-Orridge's Temple Records.
Morris also directed five short films including La Main Morte, Blind Obedience, Le Trois Grace, Marilyn and Summer House. The films were all uploaded on his YouTube channel.
Morris ran an art gallery in Kildare Town in the late 1990s.
He paints and draws and sells his work online via his facebook official site. He now resides in Cork, Ireland where he continues practicing and teaching Art.