Johnny Marr to auction guitars he played with The Smiths and Billie Eilish

Johnny Marr to auction guitars he played with The Smiths and Billie EilishJust nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleMark SavageMusic correspondentGetty ImagesJohnny Marr has more than 100 guitars - and he says the auction will be 'emotional' but 'cathartic'Johnny Marr is to auction almost 100 of his guitars, including the ones he played on The Smiths' This Charming Man and the Billie Eilish song No Time To Die.The sale also includes a 1960 Cherry Red Gibson ES-355, given to Marr by music mogul Seymour Stein as an incentive for The Smiths to sign to his label, Sire Records. The first song Smith played on it was the classic indie anthem Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now.Speaking to the BBC, Marr said he was letting go of his guitars because, "I didn't like the idea of my studio space becoming a museum".Getty ImagesThe auction includes the Gibson Les Paul that Marr played in early TV appearances with The Smiths, including this performance on The Tube. It's estimated at £80,000 - £120,000He received his first guitar - "a little wooden toy thing, bought in a haberdashery shop in Manchester" - when he was just four years old.He went on to form The Smiths with Morrissey in 1982, defining an entire era of indie music with his intricate, chiming tones - rooted in British pop, while stubbornly avoiding cliché.Since the group disbanded in 1987, he has become a serial collaborator, working with everyone from The Pretenders and Talking Heads to Bryan Ferry, Oasis, Blondie, Beck, Modest Mouse, The Cribs and Franz Ferdinand. This weekend, he was a special guest at The Gorillaz' kaleidoscopic, one-off stadium concert. Later this year, he'll release fifth solo album, The Age Of Everything.Getty ImagesThe star will also sell the guitar he played on Billie Eilish's James Bond theme No Time To DieIt was while writing the 2023 book Marr's Guitars that he first decided to offload some of his treasured possessio...