NEW ORDER - MUSIC MOGUL ANTHONY WILSON DIES

MUSIC MOGUL ANTHONY WILSON DIES

Music mogul Anthony Wilson, who gained fame for his promotion of the Manchester music scene, has died of cancer.

Wilson, who set up the Factory Records label that launched the careers of New Order, Happy Mondays and Joy Division, passed away in hospital in Manchester on Friday evening.

A spokesman for the Christie hospital said: "Tony Wilson died peacefully at the Christie Hospital at 18.05 BST this evening with his family by his bedside."

Wilson entered journalism after graduating from Cambridge. He hosted a music programme So It Goes for a regional television station and from then onwards he focussed his efforts on local bands.

He went on to start his own record label, Factory Records, in 1978 as well as the Hacienda nightclub.

In 2002, Michael Winterbottom directed a film about the Manchester nightlife called 24 Hour Party People which was based around the notorious Hacienda club.

Phil Saxe, who worked at Factory Records with Wilson, told the BBC: "Part of me, part of Manchester, part of modern British music has died tonight.

"Tony was a genius, basically. He was a visionary in that he helped bands, who otherwise wouldn't have made it, who were a bit out of the ordinary.

"He helped them realise their dreams and through that probably realised himself to be Mr Manchester".

BBC Radio 2 presenter Stuart Maconie said there was "no more influential and important figure in music in the last 30 or 40 years".

"He wasn't a businessman. He just loved the music," Maconie added.

A spokesperson for the BBC where Wilson worked as a journalist said: "There will never be anyone quite like Tony.

"He was a true free spirit and a passionate advocate of Manchester - the city, its people and, of course, its music."