Distinct on only one column, return all columns

I have a table with many columns. I want to return all columns, and I want
only the first record for each distinct value in the salutation column. I
come up with the following:
select c1.* from complainer as c1
join (select distinct salutation from complainer) as c2
on c1.complainerid = c2.complainerid
The code above returns the following error:
Msg 207, Level 16, State 1, Line 3
Invalid column name 'complainerid'.
Suggestions greatly appreciated.
RandyHow do you determine "first"? I'm assuming that you are using an
IDENTITY column as your id, so try something like this:
select c1.* from complainer as c1
join (select complainerid = MIN(complainerid), salutation
from complainer GROUP BY salutation) as c2
on c1.complainerid = c2.complainerid
HTH,
Stu