Johnny Marr began his prolific career with The Smiths, founding a legacy as one of the most influential songwriters and guitarists in British independent music. His acclaimed solo career has seen multiple Top Ten albums, and continued collaborations with artists such as the Talking Heads, Electronic, Modest Mouse, The Cribs, The Avalanches, Hans Zimmer and Billie Eilish, recently recording the score and soundtrack for the forthcoming James Bond film, No Time to Die.
Roland Europe Head of Artist Relations Jamie Franklin opened the awards presentation, offering that, “In terms of inspiring a generation to pick up a guitar and think differently about tone, melody, and life changing music, no one comes to mind more than Johnny Marr.” Artists from around the globe joined in to share their congratulations as well, including guitarists Billy Duffy, Rick Nielson and many more.
BOSS President Yoshi Ikegami presented Marr with the award. During his acceptance speech, Marr personally thanked Ikegami and BOSS for the BOSS CE-2 BOSS Chorus and explained how this pedal was “such a big part” of his sound in The Smiths.
“The first pedal I ever got of my own was the purple BF-2 BOSS Flanger in 1980,” Marr said. “I got it because, and I was 16 or 17, the guitar sounds were changing. It was a shift in the way new musicians were playing, and a big part of it was that BOSS Flanger pedal. Musicians like John McGeoch, who was playing with Siouxsie and the Banshees and Magazine, he was a big flanger guy, and The Cure as well. Bands like that were coming out. We were changing the approach of guitar.”