Anthony Howard "Tony" Wilson was an English record label owner, radio and
television presenter, nightclub manager, impresario and journalist for Granada
Television and the BBC. Wilson was the music mogul behind some
of Manchester's most successful bands. He was one of the five co-founders of
Factory Records and the founder and manager of the Haçienda nightclub.
Wilson was known as "Mr Manchester", dubbed as such for his work in promoting
the culture of Manchester throughout his career.
He was portrayed by Steve Coogan in Michael Winterbottom's 2002 film 24 Hour
Party People, and by Craig Parkinson in Anton Corbijn's 2007 film Control.
Early life Wilson was born 20 February 1950 in Hope
Hospital, Pendleton, Salford, Lancashire, to Sydney Wilson and Doris
Knupfer, and moved to Marple, near Stockport in Cheshire, at the age of
five. His maternal grandfather was German. After passing his Eleven plus
exam, Wilson attended the De La Salle Grammar School in Weaste Lane,
Pendleton, Salford. He developed a love of literature and language, ignited by a
performance of Hamlet at Stratford upon Avon. Wilson started his professional
career in 1968 at the age of 17, working as an English and Drama teacher at Blue
Coat School in Oldham. He later graduated with a degree in English from
Jesus College, Cambridge. Broadcasting career
After his graduation in 1971, Wilson began as a trainee news reporter for
ITN, before moving to Manchester in 1973, where he secured a post at Granada
Television. He went on to present Granada's culture, music and events
programme, So It Goes. Through the 1970s and 1980s he was one of the main anchors
on Granada Reports, a regional evening news programme, where he worked with
Richard and Judy among others. He continued in this line of work even at
the height of his success in the music industry.
In 1989, Wilson hosted The Other Side of Midnight, another Granada weekly
regional culture slot, covering music, literature and the arts in general. Its
Sunday night slot made it one of the UK's first experiments in late night
weekend TV. He reported for ITV's celebrated current affairs series, World
in Action in the early 1980s and also hosted Channel 4's After Dark, the UK's
first open-ended, late night chat show, in which he chaired loose discussions in
a darkened studio between intellectuals and celebrities of various descriptions.
Wilson co-anchored the BBC's coverage of the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at
Wembley Stadium in 1992. He hosted the short-lived TV quiz shows Topranko! and
MTV Europe's Remote Control in the 1990s, as well as the Manchester United
themed quiz, Masterfan, for MUTV. In 2006 he became the regional political
presenter for the BBC's The Politics Show. He presented a weekly radio show
on Xfm Manchester – Sunday Roast – and a show on BBC Radio Manchester. In October
he joined Blur bassist Alex James, Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq and
previously unknown presenter Emily Rose to host the 21st century version of the
iconic 80s music programme, "The Tube", for Channel 4 Radio which ran until 2
March 2007. His final music TV show was filmed in December 2006 for Manchester's
Channel M. Only one episode of the programme – entitled 'The New Friday' –
was recorded before Wilson became ill. Music career
Wilson's involvement in popular music stemmed from hosting Granada's culture
and music programme "So It Goes". Wilson, who intensely disliked the music
scene of the mid-1970s which was dominated by such genres as progressive
rock and arena rock, saw the Sex Pistols at Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall,
in June 1976, an experience which he described as "nothing short of an
epiphany". He booked them for the last episode of the first series, probably
the first television showing of the then-revolutionary British strand of
punk rock. He was the manager of many bands,
including A Certain Ratio and the Durutti Column, and was part owner and
manager of Factory Records, home of Happy Mondays, Joy Division and New
Order – the band managed by friend and business partner Rob Gretton. He also
founded and managed the Haçienda nightclub and Dry Bar, together forming
a central part of the music and cultural scene of Manchester. The scene was
termed "Madchester" in the late 1980s. He made little money from Factory
Records or the Haçienda, despite the enormous popularity and cultural
significance of both endeavours. Both Factory Records and the Haçienda came to
an abrupt end in the late 1990s. He went on to form Factory Too through
London Records, signing Hopper, The Durutti Column and Space Monkeys. After
London Records pulled out of the deal, a third, independent version of Factory
Records was formed. A semi-fictionalised version of his life
and of the surrounding era was made into the 2002 film, 24 Hour Party People,
which stars Steve Coogan as Wilson. After the film was produced, Wilson
wrote a novelisation based on the screenplay. He played a minor role in
the 2005 film, A Cock and Bull Story, in which his character interviews Steve
Coogan. Wilson also co-produced the 2007 Ian Curtis biopic, Control. He died a
few months before its release. Wilson was a partner in the annual "In
the City" music festival and industry conference, and also F4 Records, the
fourth version of Factory Records, which was set up to be an online distributor
for Wilson's long term protégé Vini Reilly, of the Durutti Column. F4 also
released music by Manchester-based bands RaW-T and the Young Offenders Institute.
Politics Wilson identified himself as a socialist
and refused to pay for private healthcare on principle. Wilson was also
an outspoken supporter of regionalism. Along with others including Ruth Turner,
he started a campaign for North West England to be allowed a referendum on
the creation of a regional assembly, called "The Necessary Group" after a
line in the United States Declaration of Independence. Although his campaign was
successful, with the Government announcing that a vote would take place,
this was later abandoned when North East England voted against the introduction
of a regional tier of government. Wilson later spoke at several political events
on this subject. He was also known for using Situationist ideas.
Relationships Wilson was married twice, first to
Lindsay Reade and then to Hilary, with whom he had a son, Oliver, and a
daughter, Isabel. In 1990 he started a relationship with Yvette Livesey, a
former Miss England and Miss UK, who was his girlfriend until his death in 2007.
Livesey has since co-operated with a biography of Wilson's life – called
You're Entitled to an Opinion ... – written by David Nolan and published in
2009. Illness
After Wilson developed renal cancer and had one kidney removed in 2007, doctors
recommended he take the drug Sutent. Manchester Primary Care NHS Trust
refused to fund the £3,500 per month cost of providing the drug, while
patients being treated alongside him at the Christie Hospital and living just a
few miles away in Cheshire did receive funding for the medication.
A number of Wilson's music industry friends, including former Happy Mondays
manager Nathan McGough, their current manager Elliot Rashman and TV stars
Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan, formed a fund to help pay for Wilson's
medical treatment. Wilson said: "This [Sutent] is my only
real option. It is not a cure but can hold the cancer back, so I will probably
be on it until I die. When they said I would have to pay £3,500 for the drugs
each month, I thought where am I going to find the money? I'm the one person in
this industry who famously has never made any money. I used to say 'some
people make money and some make history', which is very funny until you
find you can't afford to keep yourself alive. I've never paid for private
healthcare because I'm a socialist. Now I find you can get tummy tucks and
cosmetic surgery on the NHS but not the drugs I need to stay alive. It is a
scandal." Death and legacy
In early 2007 emergency surgery was performed to remove one of his kidneys.
This forced the postponement of plans to create a Southern Hemisphere version of
the In the City festival. Despite the surgery, the cancer progressed and a
course of chemotherapy was not effective. Wilson died of a heart attack
in Manchester's Christie Hospital on 10 August 2007 aged 57. Following the news
of his death, the Union Flag on Manchester Town Hall was lowered to half
mast as a mark of respect. Probate documents reveal his estate was
valued at £484,747 after tax. That figure includes the value of his city
centre apartment on Little Peter Street. The will, signed by Wilson on 4 July
2007, gave Yvette Livesey, 39, his girlfriend of 17 years, the proceeds
from their home. He also left her his share of six businesses. His son Oliver
and daughter Isabel share the rest of his estate.
As with everything else in the Factory empire, Tony Wilson's coffin was also
given a Factory catalogue number – FAC 501. He is buried at Southern Cemetery
in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. His black granite headstone, erected in
October 2010, was designed by Peter Saville and Ben Kelly and features a
quotation, chosen by Wilson's family, from Mrs G Linnaeus Banks's 1876 novel
The Manchester Man, set in Rotis serif font. The quotation reads: "Mutability
is the epitaph of worlds/ Change alone is changeless/ People drop out of the
history of a life as of a land though their work or their influence remains."
The main square of the HOME/First Street development in Manchester will be named
Tony Wilson Place. References
External links Keeping it Real Last documentary on Tony
Wilson Story of his death
Tony Wilson hosting "After Dark" on television
Return to the Hacienda – BBC News article, dated Friday, 5 April 2002
Fourth Time Lucky – Spike Magazine interview with Tony Wilson about F4, the
latest incarnation of Factory Records Tony Wilson's "love letter" to the
National Health Service Anthony H Wilson – Excerpts from the
Interview with Eyewitness in Manchester 30 April 1998
Oliver Wood's Factory Page. The Other Side of Midnight
"Anthony Wilson: The Last Interview" by Gareth Grundy, The Q Daily, 13 August
2007. http:www.tonywilsonexperience.com – 24
Hours of Lectures and workshops dedicated to Tony Wilson organised by
Manchester City Council. Tony Wilson at the Internet Movie
Database Find-a-Grave.com entry for Tony Wilson