About
Ian Curtis:
Ian Kevin Curtis (15 July 1956 — 18 May 1980) was an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the
post-punk band
Joy Division. Joy Division released their debut album,
Unknown Pleasures, in 1979 and recorded their follow-up,
Closer, in 1980. Curtis, who suffered from
epilepsy and
depression, committed suicide on 18 May 1980, on the eve of Joy Division's first North American tour, resulting in the band's dissolution and the subsequent formation of
New Order.
Curtis was known for his
baritone voice, dance style, and songwriting filled with imagery of desolation, emptiness and alienation.
In 1995, Curtis' widow Deborah published
Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division, a biography of the singer. His life and death have been dramatised in the films
24 Hour Party People (2002) and
Control (2007).
Early life and marriage
Curtis was born at the Memorial Hospital in
Stretford, Lancashire. He grew up in
Macclesfield, a town in
Cheshire,
[1] and from an early age he exhibited talent as a poet. He was awarded a scholarship at the age of 11 by
The King's School, Macclesfield. Despite this, he was not a dedicated student and did not further his education beyond
O-level.
[2]
After leaving school he focused on the pursuit of art, literature and music. Curtis was employed in a variety of jobs, including civil servant in Manchester and later
Macclesfield.
On 23 August 1975 Curtis married a school friend, Deborah Woodruff. He was 19 and she 18. Their daughter Natalie was born on 16 April 1979. She is a photographer and revealed that Ian was a
Manchester City fan.
[3]
Joy Division
In 1976 at a
Sex Pistols gig, Curtis met
Bernard Sumner and
Peter Hook. They were trying to form a band, and Curtis immediately proposed himself as vocalist and lyricist. The trio then unsuccessfully recruited a number of drummers before selecting
Stephen Morris as their final member.
Initially the band was called Warsaw, but as their name conflicted with that of another group,
Warsaw Pakt, the name was changed to Joy Division. The moniker was derived from a 1955 novel
The House of Dolls, which featured a
Nazi concentration camp with a
sexual slavery wing called the "Joy Division". The cover of the band's first EP depicted a drawing of a
Hitler Youth beating a drum and the A-side contained a song "Warsaw" which was a musical retelling of the life of Nazi leader
Rudolf Hess. Although Joy Division admitted to a fascination with Nazism, they denied any actual support for its ideologies.
[citation needed]
After starting
Factory Records with
Alan Erasmus,
Tony Wilson signed the band to his label
[citation needed] following the band's appearance on Wilson's
Something Else television programme, itself prompted by an abusive letter sent to Wilson by Curtis.
[4]
Whilst performing for Joy Division, Curtis became known for his quiet and awkward demeanor, as well as a unique dancing style reminiscent of the
epileptic seizures he experienced, sometimes even on stage.
[5] There were several incidents when he collapsed and had to be helped off stage.
[6] In an interview for
Northern Lights cassette magazine in November 1979, Ian Curtis made his only public comment on his dancing and performance. He explained the dance as a type of
sign language with which to further express a song's emotional and lyrical content: "Instead of just singing about something you could show it as well, put it over in the way that it is, if you were totally involved in what you were doing".
[citation needed]
Curtis' writing was filled with imagery of emotional isolation, death, alienation, and urban decay.
[original research?] He sang in a
baritone voice, in contrast to his speaking voice, which fell in the
tenor range. Earlier in their career, Curtis would sing in a loud snarling voice similar to shouting; it is best displayed on the band's debut
EP,
An Ideal for Living (1978).
Producer Martin Hannett developed Joy Division's sparse recording style, and some of their most innovative work was created in
Strawberry Studios in
Stockport (owned by Manchester act
10cc) and
Cargo Recording Studios Rochdale in 1979), which was developed from
John Peel's investing money into the music business in Rochdale.
[citation needed]
Although predominantly a vocalist, Curtis also played guitar on a handful of tracks (usually when Sumner was playing synthesizer; "Incubation" and a
Peel session version of "
Transmission" were rare instances when both played guitar). At first Curtis played Sumner's Shergold Masquerader, but in September 1979 he acquired his own guitar, a
Vox Phantom Special VI (often described incorrectly as a Teardrop or ordinary Phantom model) which had many built-in effects used both live and in studio. After Curtis' death, Sumner inherited the guitar and used it in several early
New Order songs, such as "
Everything's Gone Green". Curtis also played keyboard on some live versions of "She's Lost Control". He also played the
melodica on "Decades" and "In a Lonely Place"; the latter was written and rehearsed for the cancelled American tour and later salvaged as a New Order B-side.
[citation needed]
Death
Curtis' last live performance was on 2 May 1980, at High Hall of
Birmingham University, a show that included Joy Division's first and only performance of "
Ceremony", later recorded by
New Order and released as their first single. The last song Curtis performed on stage was "Digital". The recording of this performance is on the
Still album.
[7]
Detailed in Debbie Curtis'
Touching from a Distance, Curtis was staying at his parents' house at this time and attempted to talk his wife into staying with him on 17 May 1980, to no avail. He told her to leave him alone in the house until he caught his train to Manchester the next morning.
[8] In the early hours of 18 May 1980, Curtis hanged himself in the kitchen of his house at 77 Barton Street, Macclesfield. He had just viewed
Werner Herzog's film
Stroszek and listened to
Iggy Pop's
The Idiot. At the time of his death, his health was failing as a result of the epilepsy and, attempting to balance his musical ambitions with his marriage, which was foundering in the aftermath of his close relationship with journalist
Annik Honoré (who in 2010 would claim it was not an "affair" and merely a close and platonic relationship).
[9] His wife found Ian's body the next morning; he had used the kitchen's
washing line to hang himself. Deborah claimed later that he had confided to her on several occasions that he had no desire to live past his 20s.
[10][11]
Curtis was cremated at Macclesfield Crematorium and his ashes were buried. His memorial stone, inscribed with "Ian Curtis 18 – 5 – 80" and "
Love Will Tear Us Apart", was stolen in July 2008 from the grounds of
Macclesfield Cemetery.
[12] The missing memorial stone was later replaced by a new stone.
[13]
In a 1987 interview with
Option,
Stephen Morris commented on how he would describe Curtis to those who asked what he was like: "An ordinary
bloke just like you or me, liked a bit of a laugh, a bit of a joke."
[14]
Tributes
Label mate band
The Durutti Column released in 1981 their album
LC, including the Ian Curtis tribute song "The Missing Boy".
In 1990,
Psychic TV released "
I.C. Water", a song dedicated to Curtis.
Deborah Curtis wrote
Touching from a Distance, published in 1995, a biographical account of their marriage, detailing in part his supposed infidelity with Annik Honoré, which the latter still denies.
In 1999, the post-hardcore band
Thursday released a song titled "Ian Curtis" on their debut album,
Waiting.
Authors Mick Middles and Lindsay Reade released the book
Torn Apart: The Life of Ian Curtis in 2006. This biography takes a more intimate look at Curtis and includes photographs from personal family albums and excerpts from his letters to Honoré during their alleged affair.
Paul Morley wrote
Joy Division, Piece by Piece, writing about Joy Division 1977–2007; it was published in late 2007. The book documents all of his writings and reviews about Joy Division, from their formation until Tony Wilson's death.
The words "Ian Curtis Lives" are written on a wall in Wallace Street,
Wellington,
New Zealand. The message, which appeared shortly after the singer's death in 1980, is repainted whenever it is painted over. A nearby wall on the same street on 4 January 2005 was originally emblazoned "Ian Curtis RIP", later modified to read "Ian Curtis RIP Walk In Silence" along with the incorrect dates "1960–1980".
[15] Both are referred to as "The Ian Curtis Wall".
[16] Steve McKinlay recalls after having watched
24 Hour Party People and drinking several pints with his brother, a well known New Zealand beer brewer, in the early hours of the morning he drove with a bucket of paint and a small roller to Wallace Street and repainted the wall after it had long since faded. On 10 September 2009, the wall was painted over by Wellington City Council's anti-graffiti team.
[17] The wall was chalked back up on 16 September 2009. Following this, council spokesman Richard MacLean said, "They [the anti-graffiti team] may turn a blind eye to it".
[18] The wall was repainted on 17 September 2009, and has been removed and repainted on and off. A new and improved design, with correct dates and the original "Walk In Silence", was painted on the wall on 27 February 2013.
[19]
Taken From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Curtis
More:
http://www.spectrumgothic.com.br/musica/grandes_icones/ian_curtis.htm
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