Rob Gretton

Rob Gretton ( born January 15, 1953 in Wythenshawe, near Manchester, England; † 15 May 1999 Manchester ) was an English music promoter and label owner. He was the manager of the post-punk band 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 the Roman Catholic St Bede 's College in Manchester. After graduating, he worked as an insurance clerk. 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 actually was more interested in black music and soul, he produced the first single, also dating Wythenshawe punk band Slaughter & The Dogs and published a fanzine for the group. Gretton became independent and began to promote a number of local bands. After he had a gig coming from Manchester band Joy Division impressed, he began to manage the group. The band played in Tony Wilson's Factory newly founded club, from the soon emerged the same label. 1979 Gretton was (along with Martin Hannett ) partner of Factory Records. Apart Joy Division supervised Gretton also the bands 25 and Section Foreign Press, he also became the driving force of the Haçienda Night Clubs (Fac 51), which opened in Manchester in May 1982. With the commercialization of the label and the increase of house Acts there were differences between Gretton, Hannett and Wilson. In 1989, Gretton with Rob 's Records his own label, which among other things Bands like A Certain Ratio, Sub Sub and The Beat Club published. Appeared in 1997 with the Sub Sub - Single This Time I'm Not Wrong ( with Bernard Sumner ) the last release of Rob 's Records.

Gretton died 1999 in Manchester of a heart attack.

Film

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

The British music documentary Joy Division by Grant Gee from 2007 contains archive footage of Gretton.