R is for Rob Gretton

Manager of several Factory bands (including Joy Division and New Order), partner in the label, talent scout with a list of credits to his name, punk fanzine author, DJ before the DJ scene even took hold, generous funder of the Manchester punk scene out of his own pocket; Rob Gretton did everything.  He helped to build and run the Haçienda, started the Dry Bar, and founded his own label, Rob’s Records.  He’s also the marketing genius who forbade Pete Hook and Barney Sumner from speaking during Joy Division interviews because, as Pete says, “he thought we were a couple of cretins.”  And he did, in fact, make bets on his bands’ singles, famously losing to New Order when a single he’d guessed would be in the Top Ten only made it to number eleven.

© FAC:ABC 

Scholarship created in honour of Joy Division manager

 

A music industry scholarship has been launched in the name of late Joy Division and New Order manager Rob Gretton. Gretton looked after British rockers New Order until his death from a heart attack in 1999, aged 46, and his family has chosen to honour him by funding an unspecified number of budding music industry talents through a 12-week music business course with a scholarship in his name. Gretton’s son Benedict will help make an interview shortlist from the online applications, and successful entrants will find out if they have won a place on 15 January (15), what would have been Gretton’s 62nd birthday. The course, open for anybody aged over 18, will run at Manchester Midi School in England.