*20 February 1950 Salford, Lancashire, England, UK
†10 August 2007 Withington, Manchester, England, UK
Made his name presenting the late night music show, So It Goes. Started promoting his own club night in Manchester, called Factory, which led to him founding
Factory, and later the legendary Haçienda nightclub.
Factory Too and
F4 Records followed. Was the manager of the
Durutti Column, The. Possibly better known to those from the North of England as a Granada Television presenter. A semi-fictional film about Anthony H. Wilson, Factory Records and its bands, called 24 Hour Party People, was made in 2002. A professional Northerner, he was often dubbed "Mr Manchester".
Wilson was diagnosed with kidney cancer in late 2006. After having a kidney removed he responded well to initial treatment and spoke candidly of the good nursing he recieved courtesy of the British NHS in interviews during 2007. He also railed against the "postcode lottery" of treatment in the UK: members of the Happy Mondays and other acts he supported over the years had started a fund to help pay for the drug Sutent, which was not funded by the NHS in Manchester.
At 7pm on Friday 10th August 2007 he died aged 57, following a third heart attack. His doctor stated that the attack was unrelated to the cancer, but that his general poor health helped contribute.
NB: not to be confused with BBC session producer
Tony Wilson.
(to confuse matters Anthony H. Wilson is usually referred to as Tony Wilson, and the BBC's Tony Wilson produced many sessions for Factory groups...)