Here's what got me thinking...
"(In 1978) Morrissey duly moved in with Linder and Ludus guitarist Ian to a less than salubrious abode in the red light area of Whalley Range where they lived for approximately a year. This is the inspiration for the "What do we get for our trouble and pain/A rented room in Whalley Range" couplet that lyrically climaxes the pummelling frenzy of "Miserable Lie" from the first album and remains a live show-stopper. Indeed, one could read more than enough about the nature of Morrissey's relationship with Linder in the song's complete lyric. Similarly, certain sources intimate that "Wonderful Woman" and "Jeane" stem from this relationship.
Whatever the case, Morrissey and Linder parted on good terms and their friendship remains constant, with the former helping to promote the re-formed Ludus' product whenever he's afforded radio-space. More pointedly, Morrissey's avowed celibacy usually dates from around 1979."
Hmmmm...
I don't know who Nick Kent got his info from - or maybe he just speculated about Morrissey's lyrics that were supposed to be about Linder. I don't think that there is anything to make one think that "Jeane" is autobiographical, but it's quite possible for the other two, particularly "Miserable Lie" - although it's all speculation, at the end of the day.
In any case, Morrissey was quite upset at Kent for writing that article in 1985 ("Dreamer In the Real World",
The Face)- Kent was banned from the Smiths camp from that moment on. Kent later said that Morrissey was upset with him for including the information gotten from other people who used to know Morrissey in his pre-Smiths days (Marr was also upset at some info about his own past - namely his one-time involvement with some jewel thieves, which would also be mentioned in "Severed Alliance").
As for other biographies - "Severed Alliance" has several pages of useful info on Linder herself and her band, but next to nothing about her relationship with Morrissey. Rogan doesn't even mention any rumours that Morrissey ever lived in Whalley Range. His only source was Willie Trotter, the guy who was Ludus bassist for about a year, 1978-79, and who only had this to say: "I don't think he and Linder had a sexual relationship, there were a lot of people around her, not just Morrissey. I'm not sure how much she realized it, but she was a very charismatic person..." etc. Not much of a source, is he? Now, we may afford not to be too intrusive if we don't want to, but it was Rogan's job to be intrusive and do a full research on every aspect of Morrissey's life - he didn't mind doing it in other parts of the book, so I can only put it down to sloppiness, or inability to find any better sources.
Simon Goddard stated in the first edition of his book "Songs That Saved Your Life" that Morrissey and Linder "briefly cohabitated in the early 80s". In the second edition he changed it to the statement that there are 'conflicting rumours' whether Morrissey lived in Linder's flat in Whalley Range; "In any case, he was a very frequent visitor". Morrissey did mention once in an interview that he spent some time living in Whalley Range, "inhaling the riches of the poor". You can also find some speculation in "Songs That Saved Your Life" on "Miserable Lie" and "Wonderful Woman" possibly being about Linder, and Goddard makes a strong case for "I Won't Share You" (even though he dwells quite a lot on the popular assumption that "I Won't Share You" was about Johnny Marr). To remind you, a verse in this song goes:
"The note I wrote
as she read, she said:
Has the Perrier gone straight to my head
or is life sick and cruel, instead?"
(or, in the lyric sheet:
"as the note I wrote
was read, she said
has the Perrier gone straight to my head
or is life plainly sick and cruel, instead?")
and the last lines (not printed in the lyric sheet):
"I want the freedom and I want the guile
I want the freedom and the guile
Life tends to come and go
That's OK as long as you know
Life tends to come and go
That's OK as long as you know
I won't share you
I won't share you
I'll see you somewhere
I'll see you sometime
Darling..."
Goddard managed to dig up a sleevenote that Morrissey wrote in October 1985 for the Ludus compilation that was supposed to be released on the Belgian Crepuscule label, and which was cancelled. Apparently, the last line was "Oh Linder, Linder. I will see you sometime, somewhere."
(The compilation, "Nue au Soleil" was finally released in 1987, but without his sleevenotes, which were never made public. James Nice's 2002 biography/sleevenotes for Ludus reissues quotes a few short phrases from Morrissey's unused sleevenote, but not that phrase.)