1995 Deborah Curtis, "Touching From A Distance"

The Division Tell

• DEBORAH CURTIS (pictured above) has spoken of the anguish she endured while writing Touching From A Distance.

Curtis, who started writing the book seven years ago, said she did it because it was therapeutic. She also wanted to put the record straight concerning the suicide of her husband.

"When the band was going it was fantastic," she said. "It was really great, so exciting. I used to be so proud of Ian when he was up on stage and I wouldn't trade that for anything. But even though everything seemed black and white, Ian was tormenting himself. Nobody realised how awful his epilepsy was. He was constantly afraid of dying during a fit."

Curtis said she has finally come to terms with her husband's death, 15 years after she found his body in their kitchen.

She said: "After it happened I had Natalie (their daughter) to focus on. I lived with my parents for a while. I feel I've only just reached the time where I can carry on with the rest of my life."

Curtis spoke to Joy Division members during her research, though she says Stephen Morris found it extremely difficult to talk about Ian's death. She didn't interview her husband's mistress, Annik Honore.

"It was not difficult to write about Annik," said Deborah. "It's so long ago and I don't feel particularly vindictive towards her. She probably found it quite hard, too, because she's got a different story to me."

"I've been writing things for the past 15 years, but it wasn't until 1988 that I decided to do a book. Other people had written books without interviewing me and I thought that was ridiculous. It was good to get everything down. When I wrote about finding Ian's body, it wasn't difficult to describe because I'd gone over it in my mind several times. But the only way to stop thinking about it was to write it down."

JOY DIVISION mapped out what would they would do if singer Ian Curtis left the group, more than a year before his suicide in 1980, a new book reveals.

The discovery is made in a biography of the former Joy Division singer called Touching From A Distance, written by his widow Deborah. It will be released in May to coincide with the 15th anniversary of his suicide.

In her book, Deborah Curtis says the other three Joy Division members - Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris - became concerned about her husband's manic personality shortly before the release of their debut album 'Unknown Pleasures'.

Writing about band conversations, she says Ian told her of the band's decision to change its name if one member 'left'. Deborah thought it was a strange thing to have discussed and wondered if Joy Division were expecting something to happen to her husband, or whether they were planning to throw him out.

The book also reveals Curtis made a failed suicide attempt on April 7, 1980 because he was depressed over the state of his marriage, which had become complicated because of his affair with Belgian Annik Honore.

He had attempted to overdose on epilepsy pills Phenobarbitone but he was rushed to hospital where his stomach was pumped and a psychiatrist concluded he was 'not suicidal'.

Referring to Curtis' eventual suicide, Deborah says her husband spent the night of May 16, 1980 playing pool with Peter Hook in a Manchester pub. He then cancelled a meeting with guitarist Bernard Sumner, scheduled for the next night, and went back to his house in Barton Street, Macclesfield, where he watched Stroszek, a Werner Herzog film about a man who kills himself because he cannot decide between two lovers.

Curtis drank several cups of very strong coffee, finished a small amount of whisky from his pantry and played Iggy Pop's album "The Idiot'. Between 1am and dawn he wrote a long letter to his wife and then hanged himself in the kitchen with a rope taken off the family clothes line.

His wife found him later that morning. She said she took a step towards him and he was still. Then she noticed the rope.

Deborah says she ran through to the sitting room and picked up the telephone. She ran back to the kitchen, looked at his face to double check and saw a long string of saliva dripping from his mouth. It was then she knew "he really had done it".

Touching From A Distance is published by Faber & Faber on May 8.

JOY DIVISION'S classic second single 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' is being re-released, and a 'Best Of' album will also be issued to coincide with the 15th anniversary of Ian Curtis' suicide.

'Love Will Tear Us Apart' will be released on May 15 on several formats with extra tracks including a new Arthur Baker mix of 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', 'These Days', 'Atmosphere' and a previously unreleased live version of 'Transmission' which was recorded in Canada.

'Permanent: The Best Of Joy Division', will be released on May 29 by London Records.

The full tracklisting is 'Love Will Tear Us Apart (original Martin Hannett mix)', 'Transmission', 'She's Lost Control (12" mix)', 'Shadowplay', 'Day Of The Lords', 'Isolation', 'Passover', 'Heart And Soul', 'Twenty-Four Hours', 'These Days', 'Novelty', 'Dead Souls', 'The Only Mistake', 'Something Must Break', 'Atmosphere' and 'Love Will Tear Us Apart (Don Cehman mix)'.

However, Deborah Curtis said she was not happy with the new Arthur Baker mix of 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' which features Ian Curtis wailing over the newly-mixed track. She remarked: "I don't like it but it's the record company who's doing this, so what can you do?"

SMASHING PUMPKINS, MOBY and RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS guitarist DAVE NAVARRO are among contributors to a new US tribute to tan Curtis.

The album, as yet untitled, is also likely to feature MAZZY STAR, DESERT STORM and LOW and will be released in autumn.

Smashing Pumpkins will appear under the name Star Children while Moby's contribution is a Black Sabbath-esque version of 'New Dawn Fades'