Tony Wilson has died

[Dave Lewis]

Just seen this on The Guardian website:

The music mogul Tony Wilson has died aged 57 following a heart attack.
The former Factory Records boss had been diagnosed with kidney cancer last year, and had been undergoing treatment in hospital in Manchester.

Wilson founded the famous Hacienda nightclub and was one of five co-founders of Factory Records, which produced bands such as New Order and the Happy Mondays during a period in the eighties dubbed 'Madchester'.

Born at Hope hospital, Salford, he went to De La Salle Grammar School, Salford, and studied english at Cambridge before beginning his TV career as a trainee with ITN in 1971.

He was a reporter and presenter on Granada Reports and went on to present So It Goes - the music show that first aired punk bands.
He also worked on World In Action - Granada's flagship current affairs programme - and Flying Start which showcased new businesses, as well as After Dark, a late night discussion programme on Channel 4.

Besides presenting, he helped to organise the annual In The City festival in Manchester which attracts musicians and critics from all over the world.

And Steve Coogan played Tony in the film 24 Hour Party People, a semi-fictional account of Tony and Factory Records.

More recently he has presented XFM Manchester's The Sunday Roast show and two BBC GMR shows, Ground Rules, a one-hour sports show, and Oxford Road Station, a Saturday lunch-time show.

His family were too upset to talk last night but wanted to thank staff at the MRI and Christie who have provided "fantastic" care for him over the last few months.

Professor Robert Hawkins, his doctor at Christie hospital, said: "It's very sad. He died as a result of something unrelated to his cancer. His cancer was responding well to treatment but obviously did contribute to his poor health".

[Wayne]

Dave's link doesn't seem to work, But is this the same Tony Wilson who used to be a producer on various Radio 1 sessions & such like?

[Dave Lewis]

I just fixed the link, Wayne... but I quoted the entire article anyway. I don't think Tony Wilson ever did much in the way of producing, and certainly not for Radio One. I may be wrong, however.

Wilson was a strange fellow in many ways, but ultimately the only thing I ever disliked about him was the way he pronounced Bono's name in the Neworderstory documentary. If it weren't for him (Anthony H, not "Beau-neau"), and the record label he founded, I'd never have heard of Joy Division or New Order, two (or one) of my favourite bands of all time. If they hadn't made it big, it's quite possible neither the Smiths nor the Stone Roses would ever have come to my attention either. My life without these bands doesn't bear thinking about, so I owe Tony Wilson more than I ever say.

May he rest in peace.

[Wayne]

Not the same one by the sounds of it, so i don't really know of him in that case, but a courtesy RIP anyway, of course.
The fellow i'm thinking of was producer/sound engineer on allsorts of famous Radio 1 sessions including Hendrix & Zep, etc...

[Milky Tears]

Sad news.

Spotted the tribute at the end of Newsnight. They had Richard Madeley, Paul Morley and Peter Saville in the studio with Stephen Morris in Manchester.


Manchester Evening News (with comments) link:

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co....e_is_over.html

[Pip Madeley]

Well as you can imagine it's big news up here - he was always true to himself, I thought, he wouldn't suffer fools gladly and didn't care what people thought of him. He could be a bit of a smug sod now and then, but like Dave said, his contribution in music, and more importantly to the now-legendary Manchester music scene, will never be forgotten. Rest in peace.

[Captain Tancredi]

He had something of a sideline as a commentator on cultural matters and occasional anchorman on Granada Reports for several years- I remember suddenly being surprised about 15 years ago that this guy off the local news had a whole other career. Unfortunately he spent most of it being a poster boy for Irritating Arrogant Mancunian- the sort who'd talk up Boddingtons' swill just because it was from Manchester- so I've never really had the opportunity to reach an unbiased conclusion about the man.

[Carol Baynes]

Not the same one by the sounds of it, so i don't really know of him in that case, but a courtesy RIP anyway, of course.
The fellow i'm thinking of was producer/sound engineer on allsorts of famous Radio 1 sessions including Hendrix & Zep, etc...

Wow, Wison was a big deal in many ways. As a founder of Factory records and The Hacienda club (both now defunct, although the Factory catalogue lives on) he meant a lot around these parts. He might have been a pretentious wanker at times, but he genuinely cared about the music and the artists and was apparently a sound bloke in many ways.

I'm genuinely saddened he's gone. I bet Sean Ryder is doubly shocked he's outlived him too!

RIP Tony.

[Dave Tudor]

First things first: I must admit I was never very keen on Tony Wilson. I remember him from Granada Reports, and other regional programmes in the eighties, and then later on, in various music shows, and I always thought he was rather arrogant, and a bit of a smartarse.

But then, I suppose this is not without good reason, as there is no doubting the influence he had on the music scene in Manchester, and, regardless of my opinion of the man, this is indeed very sad, and certainly a shock. Rest in peace, Tony.

[Perry Vale]

Oh my, I only just found out by seeing the front cover of NME.

RIP

[Carol Baynes]

I just fixed the link, Wayne... but I quoted the entire article anyway. I don't think Tony Wilson ever did much in the way of producing, and certainly not for Radio One. I may be wrong, however.

Wilson was a strange fellow in many ways, but ultimately the only thing I ever disliked about him was the way he pronounced Bono's name in the Neworderstory documentary. If it weren't for him (Anthony H, not "Beau-neau"), and the record label he founded, I'd never have heard of Joy Division or New Order, two (or one) of my favourite bands of all time. If they hadn't made it big, it's quite possible neither the Smiths nor the Stone Roses would ever have come to my attention either. My life without these bands doesn't bear thinking about, so I owe Tony Wilson more than I ever say.

May he rest in peace.

Oh Dave, how much I agree. x I'm still absolutely gutted.

[Milky Tears]

Just a reminder that Factory: Manchester from Joy Division...to Happy Mondays is on BBC Four at 9pm tonight:

Factory: Manchester from Joy Division...
...to Happy Mondays

In a dark, northern city in the late 70s, five dreamers built a record label - Factory; three classic bands - Joy Division, New Order and Happy Mondays, and Britain's first super club - The Hacienda.

Led by Tony Wilson, they created a unique collision between conceptual art and street music. This is the story of how a TV presenter, an out of work actor, an art student, a DJ and an aspiring record producer pioneered Britain's independent pop culture, imagined a new Manchester, and blew a shed-load of money.

Produced and directed by Chris Rodley in the last three months and featuring an extensive interview with Factory's creative genius, Anthony Wilson, who sadly died on Friday, August 10, 2007, this 90 documentary celebrates the triumph, tragedy and human comedy that was Factory and is a fitting tribute to Wilson's contribution to British pop culture and to Manchester. This programme contains very strong language. [S]

Fri 21 Sep, 21:00-22:30 90mins

It's repeated three times over the next few days (2:20am on Saturday morning and twice on Monday/Tuesday).

Clips and unseen footage of Tony Wilson on BBC Music site

[Captain Tancredi]

There's still a rather bedraggled and very dead-looking collection of floral tributes outside the Hacienda flats. It probably says everything that the very same people who were dancing away in there 15-20 years ago are now corporate lawyers and accountants into city apartment living and picking up ready meals from the Sainsburys by Oxford Road station.

[Carol Baynes]

There's still a rather bedraggled and very dead-looking collection of floral tributes outside the Hacienda flats. It probably says everything that the very same people who were dancing away in there 15-20 years ago are now corporate lawyers and accountants into city apartment living and picking up ready meals from the Sainsburys by Oxford Road station.

I'm not entirely sure that 'says everything' or what exactly it does say. Incidentally, I was last dancing in the Hac in 1996 and earn enough to keep a roof over my head and all the usual essential shit, but nothing posh like that. I expect I'm not alone! Most clubbers back in the day weren't that career orientated, at least not at the height of Madchester and the rave scene. Clubbing was usually an escape from the mudane 9-5.

[Captain Tancredi]

Fair enough- I was just trying to think myself inside the head of somebody who probably pays over the odds to live in a flat in that building. Perhaps it's like the way that the geeks in American high school films always turn out to be the heroes, because the films are made by the people who were the geeks themselves. And the people who live in the Hacienda flats may well be the ones who missed out first time round but have a Happy Mondays CD in one of the boxes in storage...

[Carol Baynes]

Fair enough- I was just trying to think myself inside the head of somebody who probably pays over the odds to live in a flat in that building. Perhaps it's like the way that the geeks in American high school films always turn out to be the heroes, because the films are made by the people who were the geeks themselves. And the people who live in the Hacienda flats may well be the ones who missed out first time round but have a Happy Mondays CD in one of the boxes in storage...

Hmm...a Hac DJ compilation maybe, the Mondays weren't that linked with the place, although I'm pretty sure they played there at some point. The Mondays are essentially a guitar band (although one who could seriously groove) and most of their stuff didn't get near the DJ decks without a remix 12".

The sad thing about the new flats is that the building is a completely different one. I wouldn't even get the buzz of living in the same building if I lived there.

[Captain Tancredi]

Hmm...a Hac DJ compilation maybe, the Mondays weren't that linked with the place, although I'm pretty sure they played there at some point. The Mondays are essentially a guitar band (although one who could seriously groove) and most of their stuff didn't get near the DJ decks without a remix 12".

My point was that my ignorance is probably theirs- probably a fair number of people in that building moved into the centre of Manchester because of the perceived cool and are paying through the nose for the extra cool of "living where the Hacienda used to be". Unfortunately my album project has pretty much ground to a halt, primarily due to work-based tiredness, although I really must finish the Stone Roses at some point.

[Perry Vale]

Well, I think I'm glad someone is "paying over the odds" to live there, it's about time someone made some money on the property.....

I watched the BBC Four show last night, and really enjoyed it. Sadly Tony did look noticeably ill I thought. Moreover, he comes out of the whole 'affair' looking very bad, and a bit of a tosser. I know I shouldn't probably say something like that on this thread, but he was.