Stephen Street says he would still work with Morrissey

Stephen Street has said that he would consider working with Morrissey on music again in the future.

Street, who worked closely with The Smiths during their time together, produced Morrissey’s debut solo studio album ‘Viva Hate’ in 1988.

However, the two later fell out following a dispute over royalties and songwriting credits in regards to ‘Viva Hate’, leading to a prolonged period of silence between the pair.

Speaking to NME for the latest instalment of Does Rock ‘N’ Roll Kill Braincells?!, Street recalled how he wrote to Morrissey 10 years ago to break the silence.

“He was surprised to hear from me,” Street said. “When they first received my letter, his management asked: ‘Is this a legal letter and should we get our solicitors involved?’ But it was just a friendly letter asking how he was.

“We met in [London hotel] Claridge’s and I got involved in the reissue of ‘Viva Hate’. But he had it remastered again and took off the song ‘The Ordinary Boys’. When I disagreed with what he’d done, I was incommunicado again. There’s been the occasional little email, but I’ve not heard from him properly since.”

Asked if he would produce another one of Morrissey’s records if the singer asked, Street replied: “Yeah, I think so.”

“It’s well-documented that he’s said some dubious things in recent years, but because of our long-term past relationship – The Smiths gave me my first big break – I feel a certain loyalty to him so if he asked, I would be interested,” he added.

Morrissey shared a short and rather blunt new year’s message with his fans back in January where he declared “to hell with 2020”.