The changing faces of Mark E Smith

Born in Salford in 1957, Mark E Smith left school at 16 and claims he was only diverted from a career on the docks after witnessing the infamous 1976 Sex Pistols gig at Manchester's Free Trade Hall. The gig inspired him to start his own band, mainly because “whatever I did would have to be better than most of the so-called punk shite I was hearing at the time" Photograph: Tom Sheehan/Rough Trade

Thirty two years on, The Fall have a huge discography that ranges from 30 to 60 albums, depending on whether you count their various live LPs and sessions for their greatest fan, the late Radio 1 DJ John Peel Photograph: SIN/Corbis

Helped by the Fall’s convoluted history and a lifetime of erratic behaviour, Smith's legend has grown over time. The singer, seen here in the early days of the band, is, among other things, slavishly well-read; his lyrics inimitably dour and intangible. The admiration he inspires might in part be down to the fact that he is a self-taught, working class man who has always enjoyed a pint and a ciggie Photograph: SIN/Corbis

Smith, pictured here at Reading festival in 1991, is also known for his predictably unpredictable behaviour whenever he’s in front of a camera; two classic examples being the occasion when he stuck out his tongue at a question from Newsnight’s Gavin Esler and his distorted take on reading the football results Photograph: Brian Rasic /Rex Features

With a revolving line-up that has involved more than 50 members, one constant in the ever-changing Fall cast, other than Smith himself, is the singer’s spouses. His first wife, Brix Smith (pictured), joined the band as a guitarist in the mid-80s but left when the pair divorced in 1989. Following a short marriage to Safron Pryor that ended in 1995, Smith remarried in 2001 and his wife Elena Smith, nee Poulou, remains the Fall’s keyboardist after joining in 2002 Photograph: Sarah Lee/Guardian

But what, exactly, is the secret of the Fall's longevity? In a 2005 interview with the Observer’s Sean O’Hagan, Smith gave a clue, with only the hint of a tongue in his cheek. “Discipline," he said, "that's what counts” Photograph: Christopher Thomond/freelance