Rob Gretton

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Rob Gretton (born January 15, 1953 in Wythenshawe near Manchester , England ; † May 15, 1999 in Manchester) was an English music promoter and label owner . He was the manager of the post-punk bands Joy Division and New Order . He was also involved in Factory Records and the Haçienda nightclub in Manchester.

Life

Robert Leo Gretton was born in Wythenshawe, a suburb south of Manchester. He attended St Bede's Roman Catholic College in Manchester. After graduating, he first worked as an insurance employee. In 1975 he spent together with his partner Lesley Gilbert several months in an Israeli kibbutz and traveled across Europe. In the summer of 1976 he returned to Manchester, where he was soon involved in the local music scene. Although Gretton was actually more interested in black music and soul , he produced the first single for the punk band Slaughter & The Dogs, also from Wythenshawe, and released a fanzine for the group. Gretton went into business for himself and began promoting numerous local bands. After being impressed by a concert by the Manchester based band Joy Division, he began managing the group. The band played in Tony Wilson's newly founded Factory Club, from which the label of the same name soon emerged. 1979 Gretton (along with Martin Hannett ) partner of Factory Records. In addition to Joy Division, Gretton also oversaw the bands Section 25 and Foreign Press, and he became the driving force behind the Haçienda nightclub (Fac 51), which opened in Manchester in May 1982. With the commercialization of the label and the increase in house acts, there were differences between Gretton, Hannett and Wilson. 1989 Gretton founded his own label Rob's Records, which u. a. Released bands such as A Certain Ratio , Sub Sub and The Beat Club . 1997 appeared with the sub-sub-single This Time I'm Not Wrong (with Bernard Sumner ) the last release of Rob's Records.

Gretton died of a heart attack in Manchester in 1999 .

Movie

In Michael Winterbottom's music film 24 Hour Party People from 2002, Rob Gretton is played by Paddy Considine . In the biopic Control by Anton Corbijn from 2007 Gretton is by Toby Kebbell played.

Grant Gee's 2007 British musical documentary Joy Division contains archive footage of Gretton.

Web links