2006 - Year of the Tormentors

Ringleader Of The Tormentors was released on April 3 in the UK to positive reviews, debuting at #1 in the album charts. Recorded in Italy, the album was produced by Tony Visconti and features a collaboration with Ennio Morricone, who wrote and arranged strings on "Dear God Please Help Me".

In total, 4 singles were released from ROTT in the UK: "You Have Killed Me" (Mar. 27), "The Youngest Was The Most Loved" (June 5), "In The Future When All's Well" (Aug. 21, 2006), "I Just Want To See The Boy Happy" (Dec. 4).

Morrissey spent a majority of the year on tour starting March 13 in Oklahoma and ending with two shows on Dec. 22 and 23 at G-MEX in Manchester. Most of the concerts/festivals were in the UK and Europe, with some shows in the US, Scandinavia, Ireland, Iceland and Mexico.

From the ROTT previews early in the year to the coverage of the second place finish in the BBC2 "Greatest Living Icon" vote near the end, thank you to the site contributors for your continuing persistence.

• Full coverage: news archive, tour info
• 2006 news item image gallery - images used in news items on Morrissey-solo in 2006.
• 2006 tour image gallery - tour-related images.

Update: 01/02 15:36 GMT: Most active / notable topics of 2006:

• New song leaks - Feb. 5
• "You Have Killed Me" premiere on Morrissey MySpace - stream and sleeve - Feb. 6
• Tulsa, OK - Cain's Ballroom (Mar. 13, 2006) post-show - March 13
• Morrissey pulls out of "Friday Night With Jonathan Ross" - March 31
• No Canadian concerts due to seal hunt, call for boycott - Morrissey statement on true-to-you.net - March 26
• Gateshead, England - The Sage Gateshead (Apr. 30, 2006) post-show - Apr. 30
• London, England - Alexandra Palace (May 1, 2006) post-show - May 1
• Morrissey warns Oxford lab: We'll get you! - May 31
• Law firm representing Morrissey claims copyright violation in comment #225255 - June 26
• Morrissey statement on true-to-you.net - July 21
• Top Living Icon results - Morrissey 2nd place - Dec. 16
• Manchester, England - G-MEX (Dec. 23, 2006) post-show - Dec. 23

The Goat writes:
Excerpt:

THESE stunning images have been captured by Peter Wright, who revisited the favourite haunts of singer Morrissey using a camera that cost just £2.70.

Peter bought the Lomo Smena camera from a man named Vladimir, from Siberia, via an internet auction site.

Then - inspired by Phill Gatenby's book Morrissey's Manchester - he set off to take unusual shots of historic sites in Manchester and Salford. And now the pictures are to be published in a book.

Father-of-two Peter, a self-employed designer, said: "Phill Gatenby's book spoke about where The Smiths had hung out and it even had a map.

mosquitokillah writes:

goinghome writes:

Miss Rachel Papers writes:

goinghome writes:
- On Feb. 3 legendary film composer Ennio Morricone, most famous for his spaghetti western scores, will be giving a highly anticipated performance at Radio City Musical Hall in New York City. It's been rumored that Morrissey will perform with him on a song or two. (Morricone composed the string arrangement for one of the tracks on Moz's new album). -
Joseph Pompeo, staff writer