Ian Curtis's Real Name: Ian Curtis
Ian Curtis → Ian Curtis
Quick answer: The singer was known professionally as Ian Curtis. AllMusic lists the alias Ian Kevin Curtis and gives the birth date July 15, 1956, in Stretford, Greater Manchester, and the death date May 18, 1980, in Macclesfield, Cheshire. A BBC News feature published on the 25th anniversary of his death independently discusses him as Joy Division's late singer, says he died in 1980 at 23, and marks that anniversary on 18 May 2005, placing the death at his Macclesfield home. The longer form Ian Kevin Curtis is not independently confirmed in the BBC account used here.
Real name and early life
AllMusic's fact box lists the birth as July 15, 1956, in Stretford, Greater Manchester, and the alias Ian Kevin Curtis. The BBC feature does not give a birth date or birthplace. Those birth facts appear only in AllMusic.
Career highlights
AllMusic and BBC News both identify him as the singer of Joy Division and name the 1979 album Unknown Pleasures and the later album Closer, released after his death. BBC News independently names the other members as guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook, and drummer Stephen Morris, says the group formed on the Manchester music scene in the late 1970s, and names the single "Love Will Tear Us Apart." AllMusic independently discusses those same two studio albums. BBC News also notes later interest in his life, including a later biopic drawn from his widow Deborah Curtis's book Touching From a Distance.
Death
AllMusic records the death date May 18, 1980, in Macclesfield, Cheshire. BBC News, in a feature dated 18 May 2005 and framed as the 25th anniversary of his death, independently places the death in 1980 at his Macclesfield home, at age 23. He died in 1980, in Macclesfield, at 23, as both of these accounts record. AllMusic and BBC News also both discuss later interest in his life and work, including those later albums already named above.
Name notes for searchers
People looking up Ian Curtis or Ian Kevin Curtis are looking for the same Joy Division singer. The longer name appears in AllMusic and is not independently confirmed in the BBC feature used here.
FAQ
What was Ian Curtis's real name?
He was known professionally as Ian Curtis. AllMusic lists the alias Ian Kevin Curtis. The BBC feature used here discusses him under the public name and does not independently give that longer form.
When and where was he born?
AllMusic gives July 15, 1956, in Stretford, Greater Manchester. The BBC feature used here does not independently give a birth date or birthplace, and these birth facts appear only in AllMusic.
When did he die?
AllMusic records May 18, 1980, in Macclesfield, Cheshire. BBC News independently places the death in 1980 at his Macclesfield home, on the date marked by its 25th-anniversary feature, and says he was 23.