It was too late for Ian & there is still a way to go

Joy Division bandmates make plea on mental health attitude

- TOM BRYANT

JOY Division’s iconic singer Ian Curtis shocked the music world when he took his own life on the eve of the band’s first North American tour.

And now, 42 years on, his former bandmates Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris are lobbying MPs to provide better mental health services.

Guitarist Bernard Sumner, now 66, said at Parliament: “Ian tried to commit suicide months before. He took an overdose.

“He was on a mission. It was going to happen. I don’t know what more we could have done.”