Shaun Ryder

Shaun William George Ryder (born 23 August 1962) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. As the lead vocalist of the rock band Happy Mondays, he was a leading figure in the Madchester cultural scene during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1993, he formed Black Grape with former Happy Mondays dancer Bez. He was the runner-up on the tenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. In 2005, Ryder collaborated with Gorillaz on "Dare", which peaked at number one on the UK singles chart in September 2005, becoming the band's only UK number one single. Ryder is known for his distinctive sprechgesang and lyricism. Shaun William George Ryder was born on 23 August 1962 in Little Hulton, Lancashire, the son of nurse Linda and postman Derek (who would later become Happy Mondays' tour manager). By the age of 13, he had left school to work on a building site. Happy Mondays' first release was the Forty Five EP, often called the Delightful EP after its first track. It was released on Factory Records in September 1985. Their debut studio album, Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out), was released in April 1987, and was produced by the Welsh musician John Cale of the Velvet Underground. This was followed by two further studio albums: Bummed (1988), produced by Martin Hannett, and Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches (1990), produced by Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne. The latter, recorded at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, California, went platinum in the UK, selling more than 350,000 copies. Singles "Step On" and "Kinky Afro" from this album both reached number 5 in the UK singles chart. By the late 1980s, the Happy Mondays were an important part of the Madchester music scene and personified rave culture. Numerous world tours meant the band had international success as well as massive success in their home country. The line-up of the band during this first and most important ten-year phase never changed, and the six original members Shaun Ryder, Paul Ryder (Shaun's younger brother), Gaz Whelan, Paul Davis, Mark Day, and Mark "Bez" Berry remained a tight unit until the first incarnation came to an end in 1993. In 1990, The band headlined the Friday night at Glastonbury Festival in Pilton, Somerset. In November of that year, Paul McCartney commented in NME: "I saw the Happy Mondays on TV, and they reminded me of the Beatles in their 'Strawberry Fields' phase." Musically, the band fused indie pop guitars with a rhythmic style that owed much to house music, Krautrock, funk, and Northern soul. Much of their music was remixed by popular DJs, emphasising the dance influences even further. In style and dress, they crossed hippy fashion and ideals with 1970s glamour. Sartorially and musically, the band helped to encourage the psychedelic revival associated with acid house.[citation needed] Ryder's early years as the lead vocalist for Happy Mondays were depicted in the British biographical comedy drama film 24 Hour Party People (2002), a semi-fictional account of Factory Records and the Manchester music scene of the 1980s and early 1990s. In the film, Ryder is portrayed by Danny Cunningham. Ryder has taken part in two reformations of Happy Mondays (1999–2000 and 2004–present). He also released his debut solo studio album, Amateur Night in the Big Top, in 2003. In 2000, following the annual Big Day Out festival in Australia with Happy Mondays, Ryder stayed on in Perth, Western Australia with Pete Carroll, who had a record label called Offworld Sounds. While in Perth he recorded Amateur Night in the Big Top, a studio album of dub trip hop music with Carroll, Shane Norton, Stephen Mallinder of Cabaret Voltaire, and Lucky Oceans of the American Western swing music group Asleep at the Wheel. Uncut called it, "exhilarating stuff. Another wildly implausible Ryder comeback" while Ministry of Sound said it was "A remarkable album. The most vitriolic lyrics this side of [Bob] Dylan's 'Ballad of a Thin Man' and Sex Pistols 'EMI'". The album was recorded quickly during a few late night sessions in Carroll's garage studio during an extremely hot Perth summer. The album was subsequently released on Offworld Sounds. In 2004, Happy Mondays reunited to play a comeback gig called "Get Loaded in the Park" on Clapham Common, with only two original members. Two years later they released the single "Playground Superstar", featured in the sports drama film Goal (2005), which was released after Bez had won Celebrity Big Brother. In 2007 Happy Mondays released their fifth studio album, Uncle Dysfunktional. In 2009 he made a cameo appearance as himself in Channel 4 drama Shameless. In 1993 Ryder formed a new rock band, Black Grape. Their debut studio album, It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah (1995), topped the UK Albums Chart for a week. However, their follow-up studio album, Stupid Stupid Stupid, did not achieve the same critical nor commercial success, and the band broke-up in 1998. The group reformed briefly in 2010, and released a single in 2015, The singer signed to Warren Askew & Oliver Moheda at Total Artist Management in 2008 for management and in August 2017, released Pop Voodoo, their first studio album since 1997. In the beginning of 2024 the band released their fourth studio album Orange Head. Ryder collaborated with the alternative rock band Intastella in 1993 on the track "Can You Fly Like You Mean It?" and in 1997, Ryder featured on the Agent Provocateur's debut studio album Where the Wild Things Are on the track "Agent Dan". He appeared on the English tenor Russell Watson's debut studio album The Voice (2001), lending his vocals to a cover version of the Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé song "Barcelona". In 2004, Ryder had a voice acting role in the action-adventure game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in which he played Maccer, a washed-up, masturbation-addicted musician who was planning a major comeback tour. Ryder appeared in Peter Kay's "Is This the Way to Amarillo?" charity music video in 2005. Also in 2005, he collaborated with Gorillaz on "Dare", a song on their second studio album Demon Days. Chris Evans stated at the Brit Awards 2006 that the song was originally called "It's There", but was changed as Ryder's thick Mancunian accent made him pronounce the word "there" as "dare".[citation needed] In 2021, he released his second solo studio album Visits from Future Technology. In 2023, Ryder collaborated with the indie pop band the Lottery Winners on the track "Money" from their fifth studio album Anxiety Replacement Therapy. This track was released as a single on 16 February 2023. Ryder wrote a column for the Daily Sport, in which he commented on current events and celebrities. The column was ghostwritten with journalist John Warburton, who would write a book about the Happy Mondays' reunion in the late 1990s, and co-credited it to Ryder. He said he "didn't really have anything to do with it at all," explaining that Warburton had approached him to write a biography. Ryder said he was not interested in the idea at the time, but allowed him to accompany the band on tour and document the proceedings. In 2011, Ryder published his autobiography, Twisting My Melon: The Autobiography. It was optioned by Granada Television and writer Danny Brocklehurst enlisted to write the screenplay. In 2004 he was the subject of Richard Macer's BBC3 documentary Shaun Ryder: The Ecstasy and the Agony. In 2006, he appeared in Shameless (series 6 episode 3) as himself. Ryder was a contestant on the tenth series of ITV's survival reality television show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2010, where he finished second behind Stacey Solomon. In January 2011 Ryder appeared on the first series of the ITV programme That Sunday Night Show, and again on the second series in September 2011. He collaborated with fellow I'm a Celebrity contestant Stacey Solomon at the 2011 National Television Awards. In 2013, Ryder hosted