NEW ORDER - MORRIS SHOCKED BY WILSON'S SUDDEN DEATH

NEW ORDER star STEPHEN MORRIS is in shock after the death of TONY WILSON on Friday (10Aug07) - because he can't believe the British music mogul succumbed to cancer so quickly. The Factory Records co-founder, who signed Morris' first band Joy Division in 1978, died on Friday (10Aug07) after losing a battle with kidney cancer. Morris had spent time with Wilson in recent weeks and didn't expect him to die so soon, especially as he was only diagnosed with cancer in December (06). He says, "We were told that Tony had been given the last rites. And I didn't think he was that bad. "Then at tea time on Friday I got a call from (Factory Records co-founder) Alan Erasmus, which was a shock anyway because I'd not heard from him in about 15 years. And he told me that Tony had just died. And I was shocked, double shocked. "It was very fast. I saw him three weeks ago at a wedding, and I saw pictures of him at Coachella (Californian music festival in April). He was obviously ill and he had a very ill-advised beard, but Tony was still there. "We were chatting about Neil Young at the Palace Theatre, and he seemed all right. Which is why I'm quite surprised that it's happened as quick as it has done really. "I heard he was getting taken back to hospital, but that's one of the things about cancer, it's up and down a bit. The whole thing's been really quick because he was only diagnosed just before Christmas."