Tony Wilson, a music impresario credited with guiding a crop of bands from industrial England to the international stage, died Friday. He was 57.
Wilson promoted a host of influential musicians from his native city of Manchester in northern England, including Joy Division, New Order and the Happy Mondays.
He died from complications of kidney cancer, the city's Christie Hospital said.
Wilson's influence on the city, and on British music, is documented in the 2002 movie ''24 Hour Party People,'' which charts the rise -- and eventual fall -- of Wilson's empire, which included Factory Records and the Hacienda nightclub.
Peter Hook, bass player for New Order and Joy Division, likened the impact of Wilson's death on him to "my father dying all over again."
The headline on the Manchester Evening News was: He put Manchester on the map. Here's the obituary notice. Here are some tributes to Wilson.
Speaking on News 24, Radio 2 presenter Stuart Maconie said: "There was no more influential and important figure in music in the last 30 or 40 years.
"He was incredibly generous, giving, enthusiastic and supportive of bands around him.
"He wasn't a businessman. He just loved the music."
Music writer Bob Lefsetz also touched on that theme in a blog posting on Wilson's death, saying, "Yes, Tony presented the Sex Pistols. But he also was enthusiastic about Enter Shikari. You see Tony believed in the power of music, in an era when most people just see it as an ingredient in acquiring riches." (thanks, Kevin)
Wilson, 57, was diagnosed last year and underwent emergency surgery in January to remove a kidney. Chemotherapy failed and doctors recommended other treatments, but the NHS refused to fund the £3,500-a-month therapy.
Instead, members of the Happy Mondays and other acts he supported over the years set up a fund this year to help pay for it. At the time, Wilson said: "When they said I would have to pay £3,500 for the drugs each month, I thought where am I going to find the money? I'm the one person in this industry who famously has never made any money.
"I used to say some people make money and some make history - which is very funny until you find you can't afford to keep yourself alive. I've never paid for private health care because I'm a socialist. Now I find you can get tummy tucks and cosmetic surgery on the NHS but not the drugs I need to stay alive. It is a scandal."
If you're looking for a DVD rental this weekend, check out 24 Hour Party People. It's a funny and affectionate look back at the "Madchester" scene. On the soundtrack CD cover to your right, "genius" refers to Ian Curtis of Joy Division, "poet" to Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays -- and "twat" to youknowho. :) Wilson himself apparently found this quite funny. Comedian Steve Coogan played Tony Wilson. I was particularly amused by his character's Icarus monologue ("If you what I mean, great; if you don't, it doesn't matter, but you probably should read more") and this: "I went to Cambridge University, Charles. I'm a serious fucking journalist living in one of the most important fucking times of human history." And then he would go off to do a story on a sheep-herding duck.* :)
* My memory of that was triggered this Salon review of 24HPP. The review also made this point:
Some of the city's best and most lasting bands from the period when the movie takes place, 1976 to 1992 -- most notably the Smiths and the Stone Roses -- are reduced to single mentions. Neither of them recorded for Factory.
That's fair: Factory was important, but it wasn't home to every great Manchester band (I like the Smiths, love the Stone Roses!). It's worth noting for the record that the Inspiral Carpets and 808 State were also Manchester bands.
The aforementioned Mr. Lefsetz had this to say about Wilson's depiction in the film: "Tony was not the bumbling idiot in 24 Hour Party People. Tony was the most educated man I knew. And when he’d impart his wisdom I’d be dazzled, and feel inadequate."
Here's a look at Wilson's So It Goes show on Granada TV. In it, there is mention, by several people, of how Wilson would occasionally allow evidence of his superior intellect to trickle out from time to time. :) Here's a 1988 interview clip with Wilson.
Tunewise, Love Will Tear Us Apart, by Joy Division, and Blue Monday, by New Order, come to mind as I write this, but they are both trumped by Joy Division's Atmosphere.