Anthony Wilson, the Manchester music impresario who founded Factory Records and the Hacienda nightclub, died last night, aged 57, after a heart attack on Thursday. A leading light in the "Madchester" popular culture boom of the late 1980s and early 90s, he had been battling kidney cancer since early 2006.
The Salford-born journalist brought bands including Joy Division, New Order, the Happy Mondays and James to a wider audience. His record label's pioneering approach to design and architecture also helped kick-start Manchester's transformation into a European cultural centre.
Peter Saville, graphic designer and part owner of Factory Records, said: "Tony created a new understanding of Manchester, the resonance of Factory goes way beyond the music. Young people often dream of going to another place to achieve their goals. Tony provided the catalyst and context for Mancunians to do that without having to go anywhere."
Comedian Steve Coogan played Wilson in the 2002 film 24 Hour Party People, directed by Michael Winterbottom, a semi-fictional account of Wilson's life.
But during the last year Wilson made the news for more personal reasons as the NHS refused to pay for a £3,500-a-month drug which doctors recommended after chemotherapy failed to beat his cancer.
Members of the Happy Mondays and other acts he had supported helped pay for the treatment.
Last month, while campaigning for the drug to be made freely available to all, he said: "I used to say some people make money and some make history - which is very funny until you find you can't afford to keep yourself alive."
Educated at Cambridge, he began to make history in the late 1970s, when he championed punk while hosting Granada TV's regional music show So it Goes.
By 1978 he had founded Factory Records and taken on Joy Division, who later became New Order. The label built up a cult following and at the end of the 80s found itself the centre of a youth culture phenomenon. Factory's the Hacienda became a hub of the burgeoning dance music scene.
The success of the Happy Mondays and New Order should have safeguarded Factory's future. But acts were not signed up to contracts and lavish packaging meant money was lost on record sales - leading to bankruptcy in 1992.
Paul Ryder, guitarist with the Happy Mondays, said: "I would still be working at the post office if it wasn't for Tony. He was the one that gave working kids like me and Shaun [his brother, the band's lead singer] their chance."
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Anthony Wilson, journalist and record label owner, died of a heart attack on the 10th August, after receiving treatment for cancer.

He died at the Christie Hospital, aged 57 and is survived by his partner, Yvette Livesey. 

Wilson was receiving private medical treatment due to the recommended drug, Sunitinib, not being available through the publicly funded National Health Service. Wilson's treatment was being funded by former music industry friends.