PETER HOOK
Peter Hook is famously known throughout the music business as ‘Hooky’, the nickname by which he was known at Salford Grammar School years earlier. He went on to become one of the most renowned bass players in the world featuring in two immensely popular bands Joy Division and New Order.
Peter began life at Salford Grammar School in August 1967 in Lancaster House and From 1. He became great friends with classmate Bernard Sumner, who at school was known as Bernard Dickin.
After seeing the Sex Pistols at the Free Trade Hall Peter bought his first bass guitar and soon after formed the band Joy Division with Bernard, vocalist Ian Curtis and drummer Stephen Morris. The band was spotted by Tony Wilson and released their first single on his Factory Records label. However Curtis had a number of health issues and struggled with depression and epilepsy. He committed suicide in 1980 aged just 23. The band’s second album closer was released just three months later. The song Love Will Tear Us Apart established the group at the forefront of British pop music and the Madchester cultural scene.
Following the death of Ian Curtis, Hook, Sumner and Morris added guitarist Gillian Gilbert to the line up and reformed as New Order. The band went on to record ten studio albums and received multiple music award nominations, winning at The Brits, NME and Billboard over the course of 30 years.
An acrimonious split with the other band members saw ‘Hooky’ form a new band Peter Hook and the Light. The band has again seen great success and continue to draw great crowds whenever they go on tour.
Off stage Peter has been involved with the University of Central Lancashire where he has helped to develop an opportunity to study the music business at post graduate level. Academic work is combined with hands on placements in the commercial music industry.
In 2026, Joy Division and New Order were voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the bands’ greatest accolade to date.
