Gillian Gilbert | |
|---|---|
 Gilbert on stage with New Order in 2019 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Gillian Lesley Gilbert |
| Born | 27 January 1961 Whalley Range, Manchester, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer |
| Instrument(s) | Keyboards, programming, guitar, vocals |
| Member of | New Order |
| Formerly of | The Other Two |
Gillian Lesley Gilbert (born 27 January 1961) [1] is an English musician and singer best known as the keyboardist and guitarist of the band New Order.
Gilbert's family moved from her birthplace, Manchester, to the nearby market town of Macclesfield when she was young. She disliked living in Cheshire as a teenager and had wanted to live in Manchester. [2] In the late 1970s, seeing Siouxsie and the Banshees play live on UK television was a life changing experience for her. "Me dad always says to us, 'You changed as soon as you saw Siouxsie and the Banshees on television'... And I really liked Gaye Advert out of the Adverts, who played bass, and I thought, 'Oh, there's nobody playin' guitar' - you know, women in bands." [3] Her uncle taught her how to play guitar. [3]
Gilbert was then in a punk band with three girls, the Inadequates, [4] who rehearsed at premises next to Joy Division. [2] In a 1987 interview with Option , Gilbert reflected on the first time she became familiar with Joy Division: "We didn't have a car and us three needed a lift home. So we asked them, and they said, 'Alright, but you have to buy one of our singles.' So we did and got it home and played it on this horrible record player. We'd known Stephen before. We thought, 'My God, this sounds horrible.'" [2] She would later begin dating Stephen Morris.
After Ian Curtis's death in May 1980, the three remaining members of Joy Division started a new band called New Order. Wishing to complete their line-up with someone they knew well and whose musical skill and style was compatible with their own, New Order invited Gilbert to join the band during the early part of October 1980, as keyboardist and guitarist. She had already played with Joy Division a number of times, filling in for both Curtis and Bernard Sumner playing guitar. New Order's manager Rob Gretton suggested she should join. Gilbert's first live performance with them occurred at The Squat in Manchester on 25 October 1980. [5] [6]
Gilbert's voice can be heard on several New Order tracks: the 1981 single "Procession"; the 1983 single "Confusion"; "Avalanche" from the album Republic on which she sang a single word, "faith"; and "Doubts Even Here" from their first album, Movement , on which she provided a spoken-word background vocal.
Fellow band members Sumner and Peter Hook had already produced music outside New Order, when Gilbert and Morris formed their own band, The Other Two. They released their first single "Tasty Fish" in 1991, and recorded two albums: The Other Two & You , released in 1993, and Super Highways in 1999. Gilbert and Morris were engaged in 1993, and married the following year. The couple live in Rainow, outside Macclesfield, and have two daughters. Gilbert stopped touring with New Order in 1998 so that she could care for their children, [7] one of whom suffers from neuromyelitis optica. [8] Her husband had briefly offered to care for the children, but Gilbert reasoned that it would be easier for the band to replace her than her husband. [9] Gilbert participated in the recording of 2001's Get Ready , [10] after which she was replaced by Phil Cunningham in New Order's line-up.
In 2007, Gilbert and Morris remixed two tracks for the Nine Inch Nails remixes album Year Zero Remixed . That year, Gilbert was diagnosed with breast cancer, from which she recovered. [8]
Gilbert re-joined New Order in 2011, after a 10-year absence from their albums. The band had initially reformed, after 4 years, to play two benefit gigs for Michael Schamberg, video-producer and long-time friend. Speaking in a 2021 interview, Gilbert explained; "It was up to me whether I wanted to carry on, really. It seemed quite pleasant at the time, so yeah, just went for it". [11] Gilbert performed alongside Cunningham (who remained a member), expanding the group to a quintet. Gilbert is quoted as saying that she felt glad that she had done other things during her time away from the band. Speaking about recording new material, Gilbert explained; “I figured doing an EP might be OK, but Bernard wanted to do a whole record. That made me think about the bad old days, especially Get Ready, when I’d been glad to get out of it all. But the bad old relationships around Factory had gone, which had caused a lot of problems with a hierarchy becoming established within the band. Phil and Tom are very easy-going. It was a refreshing new start, where I felt that I could do anything – so I did. I came in to Music Complete with a lot of ideas, and it was a record where everyone’s ideas were thrown in together." [12]
Since 2011, New Order have performed across the world. Their album Music Complete was released in September 2015. [8] Gilbert's vocals were featured on a Koishii & Hush remix album titled Lifetime; it was released on 3 February 2016, and featured four tracks remixed by artists such as Saltmarine, Lavigne, FM Attack and Re:Locate. [13] In 2021 Gilbert contributed to a band interview reflecting on the previous 10 years of New Order [11]
Joy Division were an English post-punk band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris.
New Order are an English rock band formed in Salford in 1980 by vocalist and guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook, and drummer Stephen Morris. Their fusion of post-punk with electronic and dance music made them one of the most acclaimed and influential bands of the 1980s. The band regrouped after the disbandment of their previous band, Joy Division, following the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis. Keyboardist Gillian Gilbert joined them later that year. They became the flagship band for Manchester-based independent record label Factory Records and its nightclub, The Haçienda, and worked in long-term collaboration with graphic designer Peter Saville.
Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. They were widely influential, both over their contemporaries and with later acts. The Times called the group "one of the most audacious and uncompromising musical adventurers of the post-punk era".
Robert James Smith is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and the co-founder, lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter, and only continuous member of the Cure, a British post punk rock band formed in 1976. His guitar-playing style, singing voice, and fashion sense, often sporting a pale complexion, smeared red lipstick, black eye-liner, unkempt wiry black hair, and all-black clothes, were highly influential on the goth subculture that rose to prominence in the 1980s.
Bernard Sumner is an English musician. He is a founding member of the bands Joy Division, New Order, Electronic, and Bad Lieutenant. Sumner was an early force in several areas, including the post-punk, synth-pop, and techno music scenes, as well as their various related genres, and was an early influence on the Manchester music scene that presaged the Madchester movement of the late 1980s centred on Factory Records and The Haçienda club in Manchester.
Susan Janet Ballion, known professionally as Siouxsie Sioux, is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. She came to prominence as the leader and main lyricist of the rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, who were active from 1976 to 1996. They released 11 studio albums, and had several UK Top 20 singles including "Hong Kong Garden", "Happy House" and "Peek-a-Boo", plus a US Top 25 single in the Billboard Hot 100, with "Kiss Them for Me".
Stephen Paul David Morris is an English drummer who is best known for his work with the rock band New Order and, previously, Joy Division. He also wrote and performed in The Other Two, a band consisting of Morris and his girlfriend and later wife, Gillian Gilbert. Morris also participated in the New Order spin-off band Bad Lieutenant.
Superstition is the tenth studio album by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released on 10 June 1991 by Polydor Records. The lead single, "Kiss Them for Me", gave the band their first top 40 Billboard Hot 100 entry in the United States, peaking at No. 23, with the album peaking at No. 65 on the Billboard 200 chart. The band widened their musical influences with the arrival of musician Talvin Singh, who played tablas on the songs "Kiss Them for Me" and "Silver Waterfalls".
John Alexander McGeoch was a Scottish musician and songwriter. He is best known as the guitarist of the rock bands Magazine (1977–1980) and Siouxsie and the Banshees (1980–1982).
The Scream is the debut studio album by British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released on 13 November 1978 by Polydor Records. Its innovative combination of angular and serrated guitar with a bass-led rhythm and machine-like drums played mostly on toms, made it a pioneering work of the post-punk genre.
Join Hands is the second studio album by the English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released on 7 September 1979 by Polydor Records. Upon its release, it was praised by the British press, including Melody Maker, Sounds, NME and Record Mirror.
Kaleidoscope is the third studio album by British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released on 1 August 1980 by Polydor Records. With the departure of John McKay and Kenny Morris and their replacement by two new musicians, Budgie on drums and John McGeoch on guitars, the band changed their musical direction and offered an album containing a wide variety of colors. "It was almost a different band", said Siouxsie.
Hyæna is the sixth studio album by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released on 8 June 1984 by Polydor Records. The opening track, "Dazzle", featured strings played by musicians of the London Symphonic Orchestra (LSO), a 27-piece orchestra called the "Chandos Players"; it was scored from a tune that Siouxsie Sioux had composed on piano. Hyæna is the only studio album that guitarist Robert Smith of the Cure composed and recorded with Siouxsie and the Banshees.
Control is a 2007 biographical film about the life of Ian Curtis, singer of the late-1970s English post-punk band Joy Division. It is the first feature film directed by Anton Corbijn, who had worked with Joy Division as a photographer. The screenplay by Matt Greenhalgh, was based on the biography Touching from a Distance by Curtis's widow Deborah, who served as a co-producer on the film. Tony Wilson, who released Joy Division's records through his Factory Records label, also served as a co-producer. Curtis' bandmates Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, and Stephen Morris provided incidental music for the soundtrack via their post-Joy Division incarnation New Order. Control was filmed partly on location in Nottingham, Manchester, and Macclesfield, including areas where Curtis lived, and was shot in colour and then printed to black-and-white. Its title comes from the Joy Division song "She's Lost Control", and alludes to the fact that much of the plot deals with the notion that Curtis tried to remain in control of his own life, and yet had no control over his epilepsy and pharmaceutical side effects.
"Hong Kong Garden" is the debut single of English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released as a single on 18 August 1978 by Polydor Records, reaching number 7 on the UK Singles Chart.
"The Last Beat of My Heart" is a song written, produced and recorded by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released in late 1988 as the third and final single from the band's ninth studio album, Peepshow. In 2021, Spin rated it in their list of "the 50 best alt-rock love songs", for its "slow-climbing swell of accordion and muted tom-tom thump", qualifying it as a "perfect marriage of words and atmosphere".
"Face to Face" is a song recorded by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was composed by the group along with Danny Elfman and was produced by Stephen Hague. The track was featured in the 1992 film Batman Returns and is included on its soundtrack. Film director Tim Burton asked the band to compose the main song of the movie. The track later appeared on the band 1992's compilation album Twice Upon a Time - The Singles and was remastered in 2002 for The Best of Siouxsie and the Banshees. Upon its release in July 1992, the song entered the singles chart in the UK and in Europe.
John McKay is an English songwriter and guitarist. He was the first studio guitarist of Siouxsie and the Banshees. He was a member of the group from July 1977 until September 1979. He played a "jagged unorthodox chording", and created a "metal-shard roar" with his guitar. Q magazine included McKay's work on "Hong Kong Garden" in its list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Tracks Ever". He recorded two studio albums with the band, their debut album The Scream in 1978 and Join Hands in 1979.
Kenneth Ian Morris, known professionally as Kenny Morris, is an English drummer, songwriter and visual artist. He was the first studio drummer of Siouxsie and the Banshees. He joined the band in January 1977; he had attended their first live appearance at the 100 Club a few months earlier and had been impressed by their performance. Morris's first studio recording with the group was in November 1977 when they recorded their first John Peel session for BBC radio. Music journalist Kris Needs said : "Like as a rhythm machine for feet and guts Kenny Morris' drumming is unorthodox, primitive and far removed from the clicking hi-hats of the fly-strength paradiddle merchants".
Bad Lieutenant was an English alternative rock supergroup formed following the second breakup of New Order. The band consisted of then-former New Order members Bernard Sumner and Phil Cunningham as well as Rambo & Leroy's Jake Evans.
Seeing Siouxsie & The Banshees on TV changed Gillian Gilbert's life. "Me dad always says to us, 'You changed as soon as you saw Siouxsie & The Banshees on television'... Watching the Sex Pistols, Siouxsie & The Banshees and a group called Penetration - I just wanted to be in a band!
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