Ian Kevin Curtis (July 15, 1956 – May 18, 1980) was the
vocalist, lyricist and occasional guitarist and keyboardist of the band
Joy
Division, which he helped form in 1977 in Manchester, England.
|
Contents
- 1 Early
life
- 2 Joy
Division
- 3 Death
- 4 Legacy
- 5 Film
- 6 Further
reading
- 7 References
- 8 External
links
|
Early life
Curtis was born in the Memorial Hospital, Old Trafford, Manchester,
in 1956. He grew up in the Hurdsfield area of Macclesfield.
It was apparent from a young age that Curtis was a talented poet and
songwriter. Although being awarded a scholarship to attend the The King's School,
Macclesfield at the age of 11, Curtis was never interested in pursuing
academic success as his ambitions and hopes lay in the music industry.
His passion for music led him to work in a record shop for a short
time. Curtis also worked as a civil servant in Manchester
and later, Macclesfield.
Joy Division
Curtis's fate was said to have been set after attending a Sex
Pistols concert in 1976, where he convinced himself his
destiny lay as a performer rather than just a fan. One thing led to
another and Curtis got to know a young Bernard
Sumner and Peter Hook. Sumner and Hook
told Curtis that they were trying to form a band and he immediately put
himself forward as a vocalist and lyricist, an offer they accepted. The
three of them recruited and sacked a succession of drummers before
settling on Stephen Morris as their
final member. The band was called Warsaw for a short while before
changing its name to Joy Division in 1978, due to conflicts with the
name of another band, Warsaw Pakt. Curtis's persistence is
said to have eventually secured the band a record deal with Tony
Wilson's now legendary Factory Records. He convinced Wilson
to allow them to perform "Shadowplay" on Granada Reports (a regional
television show on which Wilson presented). After setting up Factory
Records with Alan Erasmus, Tony Wilson "signed" the
band to his label (although no contracts were ever signed, despite the
now apocryphal tale of Wilson signing a contract in his own blood. This
myth first emerged in 2002 from Wilson himself in the run up to the
release of 24 Hour Party People, where the
scene is also portrayed.)
While performing for Joy Division, Curtis developed a unique
dancing style reminiscent of the epileptic seizures he experienced, sometimes
even on stage. The resemblance was such that audience members were
occasionally uncertain whether he was dancing or having a seizure, or
whether it was an amalgam of the two, and was somehow part of "the
act". He sometimes collapsed and had to be helped off stage as his
health suffered due to Joy Division's intense touring.
Many of the songs he wrote were filled with images of
emotional pain, death, violence, alienation and urban degeneration.
These recurring subjects led fans and Curtis's wife, Deborah,
to believe he was singing about his own life. Curtis once commented in
an interview that he wrote about "the different ways different people
can cope with certain problems and how they can adapt." He sang in an
eerie bass-baritone
voice, which made him sound much older than he actually was. He also
had a fascination with the Hohner Melodica, an instrument which was allegedly
introduced to him by Tony Wilson's wife Lindsay Reade towards the end
of Curtis's life (although Curtis's love of dub reggae artist Augustus
Pablo almost certainly played a significant part in his flirtation with
the instrument, which only appeared on two Joy Division songs, Closer's
closer "Decades" and future New Order B-side "In A Lonely
Place"). Curtis's fascination with the Melodica would later lead to Bernard
Sumner using the instrument in New
Order. Joy Division, and in particular Curtis, had their
recorded style developed by producer Martin
Hannett, some of their most innovative work being created in Strawberry
Studios in Stockport
(owned by Manchester
act 10cc)
and Cargo Recording Studios
Rochdale in 1979, a studio which was developed from John Peel
putting money into the music business in Rochdale. John Peel
was a great fan of Joy Division and Curtis.
Although predominantly a vocalist, Curtis also played guitar
on a handful of tracks (usually when Bernard Sumner was playing
synthesizer, or in the case of "Incubation", where both men played
guitar). To begin with, he played Sumner's Shergold Masquerader, but in
September 1979 he acquired his own guitar, a Vox Phantom Special VI (often incorrectly
ascribed as being a Teardrop or ordinary Phantom model) which had many
built-in effects which were exploited both live and in the studio by Martin
Hannett (Bernard Sumner "inherited"
this guitar, and it was used in several early New
Order songs, such as Everything's Gone Green)
Curtis was greatly influenced by the writers William
Burroughs, J G Ballard, and Joseph
Conrad (the song titles "Interzone", "Atrocity Exhibition", and
"Colony" coming from the three authors, respectively), and by the
singers Iggy
Pop, and David Bowie.
Death
Curtis's last live performance on May 2, 1980 at Birmingham
University was held in the same month as his death and included Joy
Division's first and last performance of the song "Ceremony", which was
later used by New Order and released as their
first single. The last song Curtis ever performed in front of an
audience was "Digital". The recording of this performance can be found
on the compilation album Still.
The effects of his epilepsy and personal problems, such as an
impending divorce
from his wife, may have contributed to Curtis's suicide by
hanging at the age of 23. According to the book Touching From
A Distance, Curtis had taken an overdose of his epilepsy
medication and ended up in hospital just over a month before his death.
The book states that Bernard Sumner took him to
a cemetery after he had left hospital to show him where he would have
ended up had the overdose killed him. In the early hours of Sunday May
18th, in his kitchen having earlier seen Werner
Herzog's movie Stroszek and
listened to Iggy
Pop's The Idiot,
Curtis hanged himself.
Curtis was cremated and his ashes were buried in
Macclesfield Cemetery.
The inscription on his memorial stone, "Love Will Tear Us Apart",
was chosen by Deborah Curtis, and is a reference to
Joy Division's best-known song.
Legacy
The remaining members of Joy Division formed New
Order following Curtis's death. The band had agreed to not go
on as Joy Division if one of the members were to leave, for whatever
reason. Their first album Movement featured a song called I.C.B.,
which stands for Ian Curtis Buried.
Psychic
TV, a band led by performance artist and former Throbbing
Gristle lead singer, Genesis P-Orridge wrote
a song about Curtis, I.C. Water. It
was released as a single in 1990 and was also featured on the group's album
Towards Thee Infinite Beat.
The single featured Curtis on the cover and samples a recording of him
discussing The Velvet Underground in a
pub.
Deborah Curtis wrote Touching from a Distance,
published in 1995, a biographical account of their marriage, detailing
in part his infidelity,
particularly with Belgian
journalist Annik Honore. Authors Mick Middles and Linsay Reade released
the book Torn Apart: The Life Of Ian Curtis in
2006. This biography takes a more intimate look at Ian Curtis and
includes photographs from personal family albums and excerpts from
Curtis's letters to Annik Honore during his affair with her.
In relation to this, the Belgian indie magazine Side-Line
has now published an interview online with Annick Honoré originally
made in 2005 in which she tells for the first time about her view on
the upcoming film.
In late 2004-early 2005, plans were made for an Ian Curtis biopic. The film,
called Control,
is based on material from Touching from a Distance.
Popular rock photographer Anton Corbijn (perhaps best known for
the videos he directed for Depeche Mode and U2) directed while Deborah
Curtis and former Factory Records head Anthony
Wilson are executive producers. Relatively unknown actor Sam Riley,
the lead singer of band 10000 Things portrays Curtis, while
Samantha
Morton plays his wife, Deborah. The film debuted at the Cannes
Film Festival on May 17, 2007 to great acclaim, taking three awards at
the Director's Fortnight.
Artist Glenn Brown has produced two paintings, Exercise
One (for Ian Curtis) (1995) and Dark Angel (for Ian
Curtis) (2002), inspired by the singer and appropriating the
paintings of Chris Foss.
A wall on Wallace Street in Wellington, New
Zealand had the words 'Ian Curtis Lives' written on it shortly after
the singer's death. The message is repainted whenever it is painted
over, and another wall on the same street now bears the legend 'Ian
Curtis R.I.P. Walk In Silence'. The original wall has been defaced, and
currently reads 'Ian Stuart R.I.P.' Both are referred to as 'The Ian
Curtis Wall'.
U2
released the song "A Day Without Me", about Curtis's
suicide, as the lead single from their 1980 debut album Boy.
An oft-repeated anecdote by Tony Wilson is that when U2 visited Factory
Records, U2 frontman Bono
said when Curtis was alive he was the best frontman in rock and he
himself was only number two; Bono pledged to take Curtis's place.
The Durutti Column, friends of Joy Division and Curtis in
particular released two songs in response to Curtis's suicide ("Sleep
Will Come" with vocals from A Certain Ratio's Jez
Kerr, and "The Missing Boy", appearing on their second LP "LC")
Thursday released a song titled "Ian Curtis" on their debut
album Waiting.
Ian Curtis was also mentioned in Coronation
Street.
Film
- Curtis was portrayed by Sean Harris in the 2003 film 24
Hour Party People, which dramatized the rise
and fall of Factory Records in the 1970s and
1980s.
- In May 2007 a British film about the life and death of Ian Curtis, entitled Control
debuted at the Cannes Film Festival to wide
acclaim. Ian Curtis is played by Sam Riley in his first time role as a lead
actor. The film was directed by Dutch film maker Anton
Corbijn.
Further reading
- Middles, Mick/Reade, Lindsay (2006). Torn Apart:
The Life Of Ian Curtis. Omnibus Press. ISBN
1-84449-826-3.
- Curtis, Deborah (1995). Touching from a Distance
- Ian Curtis and Joy Division. Faber and Faber Limited. ISBN 0-571-17445-0.
- Heylin, Clinton & Wood, Craig (1988). Joy
Division: Form (and Substance). Sound Pub. ISBN 1-871407-00-1.
- Middles, Mick (1996). From Joy Division to New
Order Virgin Books. ISBN
0-7535-0638-6.
- Edge, Brian (1984). Pleasues and Wayward
Distractions Omnibus Press. ISBN
0-7119-1439-7
- Johnson, Mark (1984). An Ideal For Living. An
History of Joy Division Proteus Books. ISBN
0-7119-1065-0
References
External links
| v • d • e Joy Division |
Ian Curtis
| Bernard Sumner | Peter
Hook | Stephen Morris
Former members: Terry Mason | Tony Tabac |
Steve Brotherdale |
| Discography |
Albums: Unknown
Pleasures | Closer
|
| Compilation Albums: Still
| Substance
| Permanent
| Heart and Soul |
| Live Albums: Preston
Warehouse | Les
Bains Douches | Fractured Box Set
| Re-Fractured Box Set
| Let The Movie Begin |
| Radio Albums: The Peel
Sessions | Before and
After/The BBC Sessions |
| Singles & EPs: An
Ideal for Living | Transmission
| Licht und Blindheit
| Komakino
| Love Will Tear Us Apart
| Atmosphere/She's Lost
Control |
| Unreleased Records: The
Warsaw Demo |
| Related
articles |
| Factory Records | The
Haçienda | 24 Hour Party People
| Martin
Hannett | Peter Saville | Tony
Wilson | Rob
Gretton | Alan Erasmus | New
Order | Control |
