Ian Curtis
Ian Kevin Curtis was an English musician. He was the lead singer and lyricist of the post-punk band Joy Division and recorded two albums with the group: Unknown Pleasures and Closer. Curtis was known for his bass-baritone voice, dance style and songwriting typically filled with imagery of desolation, emptiness, and alienation. Curtis had epilepsy and depression and committed suicide on the eve of Joy Division's first North American tour and shortly before the release of Closer. Shortly after his death, the three surviving members of the band reconstituted themselves as New Order. Despite their short career, Joy Division have exerted a wide-reaching influence. John Bush of AllMusic argues that they "became the first band in the post-punk movement by... emphasizing not anger and energy but mood and expression, pointing ahead to the rise of melancholy alternative music in the '80s".