Factory Records founder and the man dubbed ‘Mr Manchester’ Tony Wilson has died of a heart attack at the age of 57. He had been fighting kidney cancer for over a year, and suffered the fatal attack after complications with surgery to attack the affliction.

Wilson’s involvement in popular culture first started with television in the seventies before he then founded Factory Records, bringing to the world Joy Division and then later New Order and the Happy Mondays. He would famously buy the Hacienda club in 1982, running it almost constantly on the brink of financial ruin but being at the forefront of the explosion in British club culture in the mid to late nineties. The Hacienda was one of the first clubs to champion the burgeoning house and techno sounds from America and was a central force in the acid house revolution.

Tributes have rained in from across the globe for Wilson’s output. Phil Saxe, a former employee of Wilson’s at Facotry described him as a ‘genius’, telling the BBC that “Part of me, part of Manchester, part of modern British music has died tonight”

“He was a visionary in that he helped bands, who otherwise wouldn't have made it, who were a bit out of the ordinary.”

Peter Saville, the designer behind the iconic Factory sleeves, was equally effusive in his praise when speaking to the Guardian:

"Tony created a new understanding of Manchester, the resonance of Factory goes way beyond the music. Young people often dream of going to another place to achieve their goals. Tony provided the catalyst and context for Mancunians to do that without having to go anywhere."

A man who has arguably done more than anyone else to put the city of Manchester on the cultural map over the last twenty five years, he will be sorely missed.