The co-founder of the British record label that launched the careers of seminal bands including Joy Division, New Order and the Happy Mondays died on August 10 at the age of 57, a hospital spokesperson said.
Anthony Wilson, whose name is synonymous with the rise of the 1980s ”Madchester” pop music scene in Manchester, northern England, announced earlier this year that he had kidney cancer.
”Tony Wilson died peacefully at the Christie Hospital at 6.05pmm ([local time] this evening with his family by his bedside,” a spokesperson for the city’s cancer hospital said.
As well as helping to set up Factory Records, Wilson was also behind the Hacienda nightclub — a mecca for ecstasy-fuelled excess in the 1980s and 1990s — and was a broadcaster on television and radio.
A spokesperson for the BBC, for whom Wilson had worked, said he was ”one of a kind and will be sadly missed”.
”There will never be anyone quite like Tony. He was a true free spirit and a passionate advocate for Manchester — the city, its people and of course, its music,” the spokesperson added.
Alan McGee, whose Creation record label launched the career of Oasis, the most successful Manchester band of the last decade, said Factory Records was ”the template for every indie label”.
”He was a complete inspiration. He was one of the great spotters of music talent and it’s a complete shame for him to go so very young,” he told music magazine NME’s website.
Wilson was played by British comedian Steve Coogan in the 2002 film 24 Hour Party People, which celebrated the heyday of independent pop music in Manchester.
New Order’s 1983 single Blue Monday, released on Factory Records, is the biggest-selling twelve-inch single ever in Britain.
When Wilson announced he had cancer in February, the music mogul described the news a ”another step in life’s adventure”. — AFP
