Doctor Hook will see you now ......
MUSIC LEGEND TO BE HONOURED BY UNIVERSITY
MANC music icon Peter Hook is to become DOCTOR Hook - with the award of an honorary doctorate from the University of Salford. The musician, whose bass guitar playing was a driving force in the sound of New Order and Joy Division and who continues to perform across the world with new band The Light, will receive the honour at the University’s graduation ceremony at The Lowry on Thursday July 19.
He is receiving the Honorary Doctorate of Arts in recognition of his services to rock music and the history of rock music, after writing three well received books about his life, The Hacienda nightclub and the bands in which he has played.
Born in Ordsall close to the University’s MediaCityUK campus, Hooky has strong links with the city, attending Salford Grammar School.
But it was an obscure gig at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall that changed Hook’s life forever when he attended the now legendary Sex Pistols concert in 1976 and, after borrowing £35 from his mother to buy his first bass guitar, formed Warsaw – the band which went on to become Joy Division.
The band reinvented itself as New Order after the tragic death of lead singer Ian Curtis, releasing a string of seminal albums under Tony Wilson’s Factory Records label and creating a sound which continues to influence bands decades later.
Hooky has also revived The Hacienda nightclub – seen by many as the birthplace of rave culture – is a director of FAC251 in Manchester, and oversees Hacienda Classical.
He remains a passionate supporter of his home city, working actively with a wide range of organisations such as Salford Lads Club, Ordsall Juniors Football Club and Salford Arts Theatre.
Hooky said: “As a very proud Salfordian, this is very much a personal pinnacle for me. I always looked on the University of Salford as a very special place, from my nights in the Student Union until Joy Division played the main hall. To now be a part of it is incredibly humbling.”