Ian Kevin Curtis (15 July 1956 – 18 May 1980) was the songwriter and lyricist of the British post-punk  band Joy Division. Joy Division released its critically-acclaimed debut album Unknown Pleasures in 1979, and recorded their follow-up Closer in 1980. Suffering from epilepsy  and a failing marriage, Curtis committed suicide in May 1980, on the eve of Joy Division's first North American tour. In 1995, Curtis's widow Deborah published Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division, a biography of the singer. Curtis's life and death have been dramatised in the films 24 Hour Party People (2002) and Control (2007).