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. 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. The Other Two also 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, one of whom suffers from
neuromyelitis optica. 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. Gilbert participated in the recording of 2001's
Get Ready, 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. 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." Since 2011, New Order have performed across the world. Their album
Music Complete was released in September 2015. In 2021 Gilbert contributed to a band interview reflecting on the previous 10 years of New Order ==Discography==