Joy Division

Bio

Joy Division was an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the group consisted of Ian Curtis (vocals and occasional guitar), Bernard Sumner (guitar and keyboards), Peter Hook (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Stephen Morris (drums and percussion). The band rose to prominence amid the late 1970s post-punk movement. Their sound was defined by Hook’s high bass lines, Sumner’s angular guitar, Morris’s precise drumming and Curtis’s baritone vocals. Their debut album, Unknown Pleasures (1979), and follow-up, Closer (1980), are regarded as landmark post-punk releases. Curtis’s suicide in May 1980 ended the band. The remaining members later regrouped as New Order, continuing to influence alternative and electronic music.