Tony Wilson
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Anthony (Tony) Wilson (born February 20, 1950) is a British record label owner, radio presenter , nightclub manager and journalist for Granada Television, on which he hosted the rock program So It Goes. Wilson saw the Sex Pistols at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall, in June, 1976, an experience which he has described as "nothing short of an epiphany" [link]. He booked them for the second series, probably the first television showing of the then-revolutionary British strand of punk rock. He later founded the record label Factory Records and the Haçienda nightclub in Manchester.
Seeing a production of Hamlet extinguished Wilson's ambition to be a nuclear physicist. He graduated with a 2:2 in English from Jesus College, Cambridge.
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 the Happy Mondays and Joy Division (latterly New Order) - the band managed by friend and business partner Rob Gretton. He also founded and managed the Hacienda (FAC51) nightclub and Dry (FAC201) bar, together forming a central part of the music and cultural scene of Manchester which was recognised internationally as a hotbed of exciting music. The scene was termed "Madchester".
Wilson originally sought a career as a television journalist on Manchester's local station, Granada TV, where he worked as reporter and anchorman. He eventually returned to the career and the channel in the late 1990s.
He never made a fortune from Factory Records or the Haçienda, despite the enormous popularity and cultural significance of both endeavours. Both came to an abrupt although not necessarily premature end in the late 1990s, the Hacienda being forced to close because of the out-of-control ecstasy problem at the club: the club never made profits because people took ecstasy instead of drinking alcohol.
A semi-fictionalized version of his life and of the surrounding era was made into a 2002 film, 24 Hour Party People, which stars the comedian Steve Coogan as Wilson. After the movie was produced, Wilson wrote a novelization based on the screenplay, despite being described on the movie poster as a "twat". He played a minor role in the 2005 film A Cock and Bull Story, in which his character interviews Steve Coogan (playing himself).
Anthony H. Wilson is a partner in the yearly In The City - festival and music industry conference and also F4 Records, the fourth imprint of Factory Records, set up to be an online distributor for long term protege Vini Reilly of The Durutti Column. F4 also released music by Manchester based bands RaW-T and The Young Offenders Institute.
As of early 2006, he also presents a weekly radio show on Xfm Manchester ("Sunday Roast").
He lives with ex-Beauty Queen Yvette Livesey, with whom he founded In The City - festival and music industry conference.
External links
- [Tony Wilson biography].
- [Return to the Hacienda] - BBC News article, dated Friday, April 5, 2002
- http://www.theblurb.com.au/Issue27/24HrPP.htm - Review of "24 Hour Party People"
- [Fourth Time Lucky] - Spike Magazine interview with Tony Wilson about F4, the latest incarnation of Factory Records
- [Anthony H Wilson] - Excerpts from the Interview with Eyewitness in Manchester 30 April 1998
- [Oliver Wood's Factory Page.]
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