LONDON (AFP) - British pop star Morrissey has made a donation to help restore a youth club which his former band, the Smiths, immortalised on one of their albums, the club and his management told a newspaper Saturday.
Morrissey and bandmates Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce posed outside the Salford Lads Club in their home city of Manchester, north-west England, for the cover of 1986 album "The Queen Is Dead".
The club, which has become a mecca for Smiths fans from around the world, launched a one million pound (1.4 million euro, two million dollar) restoration campaign earlier this year.
Now the singer has pledged 20,000 pounds to help upgrade the red-brick building, which was established in 1903.
Club secretary Brian Ball told the Manchester Evening News newspaper: "Morrissey and the Smiths made a big difference to the Salford Lads Club by having their picture taken outside in 1986... its a marvellous gesture".
Morrisseys manager Merck Mercuriadis added that the donation was intended as a "private gesture" but the club requested it be made public to encourage further contributions.
