Ian Curtis
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Ian Curtis was a British musician best known as the lead singer of the post-punk band Joy Division, who created influential dark and atmospheric music in the late 1970s before his death in 1980. He is remembered as an iconic figure in post-punk music history, whose distinctive vocal style and songwriting helped shape the genre and influenced countless musicians that followed.
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Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1956-07-15
- Died
- 1980-05-18
- Works
- 9
Top works
- Dragonfyre
- Canticles of Andurun
- Touching from a Distance
- You Are Not Special
- En cuerpo y alma
via Open Library + Wikidata
Listeners · Last.fm
- Listeners
- 1,665
- Total plays
- 5,600
Article
Ian Kevin Curtis (15 July 1956 – 18 May 1980) was an English singer, songwriter and musician. He was the lead vocalist, songwriter, and occasional guitarist of the band Joy Division, with whom he released the albums Unknown Pleasures (1979) and Closer (1980).
Curtis had severe epilepsy and depression and died by suicide on the eve of Joy Division's first North American tour, shortly before the release of Closer. Shortly after his death, the three surviving members of the band renamed themselves New Order. Despite their short career, Joy Division exerted a wide-reaching influence. John Bush of AllMusic argues that they "became the first band in the post-punk movement emphasizing not anger and energy but mood and expression, pointing ahead to the rise of melancholy alternative music in the '80s". According to critic Simon Reynolds, Joy Division's influence has extended from contemporaries such as U2 and the Cure to later acts including Interpol, Bloc Party and Editors, as well as rappers including Danny Brown and Vince Staples.
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1956 births1980 deaths1980 suicides20th-century English guitarists20th-century English male singers20th-century English singer-songwritersArtists who died by suicideBurials in CheshireEnglish baritonesEnglish lyricistsEnglish male guitaristsEnglish male singer-songwritersEnglish people with disabilities