Ian Curtis
It is with this in mind that FemaleFirst have decided to pay tribute to some of the stars which we believe were taken far too soon, starting with Joy Divison’s Ian Curtis (15 July 1956 – 18 May 1980)
Ian Curtis was born in Macclesfield, United Kingdom, in 1956, and from an early age he was a very talented poet and was awarded a scholarship to attend the The King's School, Macclesfield, at the age of 11. However, much to his parents' disappointment, Curtis never really pursued academic success; as he grew older, his ambitions and hopes became focused on a pursuit of art and literature and, ultimately, music.
The Making Of Joy Division
In 1976, Ian Curtis met two young musicians - Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook - at a Sex Pistols gig who told him they were trying to form a band, to which Ian immediately put himself forward as a vocalist and lyricist.
During the early days of the band, the trio recruited, and sacked, a number of drummers before finally settling on Stephen Morris as their final member. but they weren't always Joy Divison, initially, the band was called Warsaw before changing its name to Joy Division in 1978. The name "Joy Division" stemmed from the sexual slavery wing of a Nazi concentration camp in the 1955 novel The House of Dolls, and was thought to have been pitched by Curtis. Nice.
Anyone who saw Joy Division live would remember Ian Curtis for his outstanding dance moves on stage; he was quite unique! He would often look as though he was having an epileptic seizure mid-set and audience members were sometimes uncertain if Curtis was dancing or having a seizure; there were several incidents where he collapsed and had to be helped off stage.
Ian's writing style was nothing short of intense; filled with imagery of emotional isolation, death, alienation, and urban decay, and although predominantly a vocalist, Curtis also played guitar on a handful of tracks.
Death
Ian Curtis' final live performance was on 2 May 1980 at Birmingham University; a show that included Joy Division's first and only performance of the song Ceremony, later recorded by New Order and released as their first single. The last song Curtis performed on stage was Digital and the recording of this performance can be found on the compilation album Still.
According to his wife's book, Ian 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. A few hours later, in the early hours of 18 May 1980, Ian hanged himself in the kitchen of his house in Macclesfield, England. He had just watched Werner Herzog's film Stroszek and listened to Iggy Pop's The Idiot.
Proving that he was such an idol, Curtis's memorial stone, which is inscribed with "Ian Curtis 18 - 5 - 80" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart", was stolen in July 2008 from the grounds of Macclesfield Cemetery. However, I'm not sure that any real music fan would perform such a heartless act.
Legacy
The remaining members of Joy Division then formed what becme the immensely successful New Order following Curtis's death as the original memembers had always agreed not to go on as Joy Division if any of the members left for whatever reason. Their first album, Movement, featured a song called "I.C.B.", which stands for "Ian Curtis Buried".
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 message "Ian Curtis R.I.P. Walk In Silence" along with the dates "1960 - 1981" (sic). Both are referred to as "The Ian Curtis Wall".
This just goes to show that Ian might be gone, but he will certainly never be forgotten.
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison