Wilson loses cancer fight
Anthony H Wilson
Music mogul Tony Wilson - the man behind New Order and The Happy Mondays - died last night.
Wilson, 57, lost his battle with cancer. He had surgery to remove a kidney earlier this year.
The Salford-born broadcaster and entrepreneur was rushed to Christie's hospital in Manchester yesterday.
He was given the last rites yesterday morning and is understood to have suffered a heart attack and died around 6.30pm last night.
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His role in the "Madchester" music scene of the early 1990s was immortalised in the film 24 Hour Party People which starred comedian Steve Coogan as Wilson.
After studying English at Oxford, Wilson returned to Manchester to work as a news reporter. He worked for Granada television from the 70s to the 90s including a lengthy stint as the main anchor for Granada Reports.
Presenting the show So It Goes sparked Wilson's passion for music after he saw the Sex Pistols at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall in June 1976.
He went on to found Factory Records - home of the Happy Mondays and Joy Division who became New Order following the suicide of singer Ian Curtis.
Wilson also founded The Hacienda nightclub - which became a central part of the Manchester music scene.
Last year, after a routine visit to the doctor, Wilson was diagnosed with kidney cancer. He had a kidney removed in January this year.
When chemotherapy treatment failed, Wilson's doctors suggested he take the drug Sutent - but the NHS refused to fund the £3,500-a-month bill.
Members of the Happy Mondays and other bands he had backed started a fund to help pay for the treatment.
Only last month, Wilson wrote in the Daily Mirror: "I love the NHS. I love the nurses and assistants and doctors and surgeons who looked after me with such care and devotion.
"But I have utter contempt for the bureaucrats who try to hold back the advances that are constantly being made in the treatment of the big C."
He described Sutent, the drug which was keeping him alive, as the new Herceptin.
"I've been paying NHS contributions since my first job at 17. They'll give me a tummy tuck or a facelift but will not pay for the drug which will keep my cancer at bay."
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.