Robert Leo Gretton (15 January 1953 – 15 May 1999) was the manager of

Joy Division Joy Division were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris (musici ...

and New Order. He was partner in and co-director of

Factory Records Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus. The label featured several important acts on its roster, including Joy Division, New Order (band), New Order, A Certain Ra ...

and a founding partner of The Haçienda. For ten years until his death in 1999, Gretton ran his own label, Rob's Records.

Life and career

In 1977, Gretton became a leading figure in the Manchester punk scene with his involvement with

Slaughter & the Dogs Slaughter and the Dogs are an English punk rock band formed in 1975 in Wythenshawe, Manchester. Their original line-up consisted of singer Wayne Barrett, rhythm guitar Mick Rossi, drummer Brian "Mad Muffet" Grantham, lead guitarist Mike Day an ...

. He was a DJ in Rafters club and manager of The Panik. Gretton's involvement with the Manchester scene began when he contributed £200 to co-finance Slaughter & the Dogs' first single, the

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

classic "Cranked Up Really High". In 1978, Gretton saw Joy Division perform at the Stiff Test/Chiswick Challenge battle of the bands in Manchester City centre. The next day, he accosted Bernard Sumner in a phone box and insisted he be the band's manager.

Tony Wilson Anthony Howard Wilson (20 February 1950 – 10 August 2007) was a British record label owner, radio and television presenter, nightclub manager and impresario, and a journalist for Granada Television, the BBC and Channel 4. As a co-founder ...

of newly formed

also saw Joy Division, and perhaps Gretton, for the first time that night. He then went on to write to Wilson twice, once asking to appear on Wilson's regional music show, and again to thank him for mentioning Joy Division on the show. Wilson replied, telling Gretton that "Joy Division (were) the best thing I've heard in Manchester for about six months". After joining Factory Records in 1979, Gretton brought many new bands to the label, including Section 25, X-O-Dus, Crispy Ambulance, Stockholm Monsters, Minny Pops, The Names, Quando Quango, The Wake, 52nd Street and

Happy Mondays Happy Mondays are an English rock band formed in Salford in 1980. The original line-up consisted of brothers Shaun Ryder (vocals) and Paul Ryder (bass), Gaz Whelan (drums), Paul Davis (keyboard), and Mark Day (guitar). Mark "Bez" Berry la ...

. Gretton was proprietor of the Rob's Records label and a co-founder of The Haçienda nightclub in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. In 1995, he founded Manchester Records. He was a supporter of

Manchester City F.C. Manchester City Football Club is a professional football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's (West Gorton), they became Ardwick Assoc ...

Peter Hook Peter Hook (born 13 February 1956) is an English musician. He was the bassist and co-founder of the post-punk band Joy Division and its successor New Order. He often used the bass as a lead instrument, playing melodies on the high strings wi ...

recalls in his memoirs, '' Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division'' and ''Substance: Inside New Order'' how Gretton would sometimes record backing vocals on New Order tracks and often helped with deliberations over song and album titles with both

and New Order. He died in May 1999 at the age of 46 as the result of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

.Dickinson, Bob.
Rob Gretton
. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 21 May 1999. Retrieved on 8 February 2009.

Portrayal in the media

Gretton was portrayed by

Paddy Considine Patrick George Considine (born 5 September 1973) is an English actor, director, screenwriter and musician. He is known for playing antiheros in independent films. He has received two British Academy Film Awards, three Evening Standard British ...

in the 2002 film '' 24 Hour Party People'', which dramatized the rise and fall of Factory Records, and by

Toby Kebbell Tobias Alistair Patrick Kebbell''Births, Marriages & Deaths: Toby is married to Arielle Wyatt. They got married in 2020 and they have one child together. Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 9 July 1982) is an English ...

in the 2007 film '' Control'', a biopic of Joy Division singer

Ian Curtis Ian Kevin Curtis (15 July 1956 – 18 May 1980) was an English singer, songwriter and musician. He was the lead singer, lyricist and occasional guitarist of the band Joy Division, with whom he released the albums ''Unknown Pleasures'' (197 ...

References

External links

Rob Gretton biography at LTM
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gretton, Rob 1953 births 1999 deaths English music managers New Order (band) People educated at St Bede's College, Manchester Factory Records 20th-century British musicians 20th-century English businesspeople Burials at Southern Cemetery, Manchester