Ian Curtis

The authors of this new biography are uniquely qualified to reveal the extraordinary events surrounding the life and death of Ian Curtis. Manchester-based Mick Middles was the first journalist to interview Joy Division for the music press and formed a close association with the band. Lindsay Reade was a co-founder of Factory Records along with her then-husband Tony Wilson. Together they have revisited the legend of Ian Curtis and produced the first full-length account of this troubled man's life, work and relationships in the midst of the unique explosion of pop energy that hit Manchester in the late Seventies. Somewhat controversially, their book benefits from the co-operation of Annik Honoré, the Belgian girl with whom Ian formed a close relationship during the last eight months of his life, and the book features extracts from their correspondence together. In this extract we pick up a troubled Joy Division in April, 1980, six weeks before Ian would take his own life.