Shaun William George Ryder (born 23 August 1962) is an English singer/songwriter and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

. As lead singer of

Happy Mondays Happy Mondays are an English rock band formed in Salford in 1980. The original line-up was Shaun Ryder (vocals), his brother Paul Ryder (bass), Gary Whelan (drums), Paul Davis (keyboard), and Mark Day (guitar). Mark "Bez" Berry later joine ...

, he was a leading figure in the

Madchester Madchester was a musical and cultural scene that developed in the English city of Manchester in the late 1980s, closely associated with the indie dance scene. Indie-dance (sometimes referred to as indie-rave) saw artists merging indie music ...

cultural scene during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1993, he formed

Black Grape Black Grape are an English rock band, featuring former members of Happy Mondays and Ruthless Rap Assassins. Their musical style fuses funk and electronic rock with electronic programming and samples. History Formation, first two albums and ...

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!''.

Early life

Shaun William George Ryder was born on 23 August 1962 in Little Hulton, Lancashire,Little Hulton did not join Salford until 1974 before which it was part of Worsley UDC 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.

Musical career

Happy Mondays

As Ryder was singer for

, his struggle with drugs led to the band's initial break-up in 1992. The film ''

24 Hour Party People ''24 Hour Party People'' is a 2002 British biographical comedy-drama film about Manchester's popular music community from 1976 to 1992, and specifically about Factory Records. It was written by Frank Cottrell Boyce and directed by Michael Wint ...

'' featured the (semi-fictional) story of Ryder's youth and the life of Happy Mondays whilst signed with Factory Records in the late 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 has also released a

solo album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

, '' Amateur Night in the Big Top'', to a mixed critical reception. In 2000, following the Big Day Out Festival in Australia with Happy Mondays, Ryder stayed on in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, Western Australia with Pete Carroll, who had a record label called Offworld Sounds. While in Perth he recorded '' Amateur Night in the Big Top'', an album of punk electronica with Carroll, Shane Norton,

Stephen Mallinder Stephen William Mallinder (born 1 January 1955) is an English artist and musician who was a founding member of Cabaret Voltaire, and went on to work as Sassi & Loco, the Ku-Ling Bros., Hey, Rube!, Wrangler, and Creep Show. Biography Mallinder ...

from Cabaret Voltaire and Lucky Oceans from American country band Asleep at the Wheel. ''

UnCut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...

'' 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 Dylan's '

Ballad of a Thin Man "Ballad of a Thin Man" is a song written and recorded by Bob Dylan, and released in 1965 on his sixth album, ''Highway 61 Revisited''. Recording Dylan recorded "Ballad of a Thin Man" in Studio A of Columbia Records in New York City, located at 799 ...

' and Sex Pistols '

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

. The album was recorded quickly during a few late night sessions in Carroll's garage studio during an extremely hot

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 Clapham Common is a large triangular urban park in Clapham, south London, England. Originally common land for the parishes of Battersea and Clapham, it was converted to parkland under the terms of the Metropolitan Commons Act 1878. It is of g ...

, with only original members. Two years later they released the single "Playground Superstar", featured in the football film ''

Goal A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or ...

'', which was released after Bez had won ''

Celebrity Big Brother ''Big Brother VIP'', is an adaptation of the '' Big Brother'' reality television series. It is the celebrity version of its parent franchise ''Big Brother'', the celebrity version airs in several countries, however, the housemates or houseguest ...

''. In 2007 Happy Mondays produced the album, '' Uncle Dysfunktional''. In 2009 he made a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

(Ryder later revealed that it was also a non-speaking role) as himself in

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

drama '' Shameless''.

Black Grape

In 1995 Ryder launched his new project,

. Its first release, '' It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah'', topped the British album chart for a week. However, the follow-up album, '' Stupid Stupid Stupid'', did not achieve the same critical nor commercial success, and the group split in 1998. The group reformed briefly in 2010, and released a single in 2015. In August 2017, the group released ''Pop Voodoo'', their first full album since 1997.

Other work

Ryder collaborated with Intastella in 1993 and in 1996 he worked with

Jerry Harrison Jeremiah Griffin Harrison (born February 21, 1949) is an American songwriter, musician, producer, and entrepreneur. He began his professional music career as a member of the cult band the Modern Lovers before becoming keyboardist and guitarist ...

Tina Weymouth Martina Michèle Weymouth (born November 22, 1950) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and a founding member and bassist of the new wave group Talking Heads and its side project Tom Tom Club, which she co-founded with her husband, Tal ...

, and

Chris Frantz Charton Christopher Frantz (born May 8, 1951) is an American musician and record producer. He is the drummer for both Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club, both of which he co-founded with wife and Talking Heads bassist Tina Weymouth. In 2002, Frant ...

on ''

No Talking, Just Head ''No Talking, Just Head'' is an album released in 1996 by the Heads, a band composed of Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth, and Chris Frantz of Talking Heads, joined by a variety of guest singers. Its name may be seen as an allusion to the fact that ...

''. 1997 Ryder featured on the

Agent Provocateur An agent provocateur () is a person who commits, or who acts to entice another person to commit, an illegal or rash act or falsely implicate them in partaking in an illegal act, so as to ruin the reputation of, or entice legal action against, th ...

album

Where the Wild Things Are ''Where the Wild Things Are'' is a 1963 children's picture book written and illustrated by American writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak, originally published in hardcover by Harper & Row. The book has been adapted into other media several tim ...

on track "Agent Dan" the track was also released as a single and remixed by

Propellerheads Propellerheads were an English electronic music duo, formed in 1995 in Bath and consisting of Will White and Alex Gifford. History Their first release was an EP named ''Dive!'', released in 1996 through the independent label Wall of Sound. ...

. He appeared on British

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

Russell Watson Russell Watson is an English tenor who has released singles and albums of both operatic-style and pop songs. He began singing as a child, and became known after performing at a working men's club. He came to attention in 1999 when he sang "God ...

's 2001 debut album ''

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...

'', lending his vocals to a cover version of the Freddie Mercury and

Montserrat Caballé Montserrat Caballé i Folch or Folc (full name: María de Montserrat Bibiana Concepción Caballé i Folch (, , ; (12 April 1933 – 6 October 2018), known simply as Montserrat Caballé, was a Catalan Spanish operatic soprano. She sang a wide v ...

song "Barcelona". In 2004, Ryder had a voice acting role in the video 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 Peter John Kay (born 2 July 1973) is an English actor, comedy writer and stand-up comedian. He has written, produced and acted in several television and film projects, and has written three books. Born and brought up in Bolton, Kay studied ...

'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 ''

Demon Days ''Demon Days'' is the second studio album by British virtual band Gorillaz. It was first released on 11 May 2005 in Japan and on 23 May 2005 in the United Kingdom by Parlophone and in the United States by Virgin Records. Produced by the band, ...

'' album. Chris Evans stated at the

2006 Brit Awards Brit Awards 2006 was the 26th show of the Brit Awards, an annual pop music awards ceremony in the United Kingdom. It was organised by the British Phonographic Industry and took place on 14 February 2006 in Earls Court in London. It attracted 4. ...

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". In 2010 he supported The Charlatans on a UK tour, as well as one-off headline show at the Assembly, Leamington Spa. In November 2011 Ryder played saxophone onstage at the Barbican in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

as a special guest in Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra for the Sky television series ''First Love''.

Other work

Writing

Ryder wrote a column for the ''

Daily Sport The ''Daily Sport'' was a tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom by Daily Sport Ltd., which specialised in celebrity news and softcore pornographic stories and images. The daily paper was launched in 1991 by David Sullivan, followin ...

'', 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 Danny Brocklehurst (born June 1971 in Hyde, Cheshire) is an English screenwriter and playwright. He has won both BAFTA and Royal Television Society writing awards. He was featured in the writers' section of the ''Broadcast magazine'' Hot 100 ...

enlisted to write the screenplay.

Television

In 2004 he was the subject of

Richard Macer Richard Macer is a British documentary maker who has made over fifty films whose subjects include singer/songwriter Shaun Ryder, model Jordan, dyslexia, morris dancing, British Vogue magazine, department stores and reincarnation. He has won bot ...

's BBC3 documentary ''Shaun Ryder: The Ecstasy and the Agony''. Ryder was a contestant on the tenth series of ITV's reality game show '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' in 2010, where he finished second behind

Stacey Solomon Stacey Chanelle Clare Solomon-Swash (born 4 October 1989) is an English singer and television personality. She finished in third place on the sixth series of ''The X Factor'' in 2009, and won the tenth series of '' I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Ou ...

. In January 2011 Ryder appeared on the first series of the ITV programme ''

That Sunday Night Show ''That Sunday Night Show'' is a British television chat show presented by Adrian Chiles Adrian Chiles (born 21 March 1967) is a British writer and television and radio presenter. He has co-presented both '' The One Show'' (2007–2010) and ...

'', and again on the second series in September 2011. He collaborated with fellow ''I'm a Celebrity'' contestant

at the 2011

National Television Awards The National Television Awards (often shortened to NTAs) is a British television awards ceremony, broadcast by the ITV network and initiated in 1995. The National Television Awards are the most prominent ceremony for which the results are vot ...

. In 2013, Ryder hosted the television show ''Shaun Ryder on UFOs'' on The History Channel UK. He has a lifelong interest in UFOs and claims that he has personally encountered

space alien Extraterrestrial life, colloquially referred to as alien life, is life that may occur outside Earth and which did not originate on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been conclusively detected, although efforts are underway. Such life might ...

s, stating that he saw a

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

for the first time in 1978. Two years later, Ryder has appeared repeatedly on the panel of RT UK's '' News Thing''. In October 2016, he appeared on '' Would I Lie to You?''. In 2017 Ryder appeared on '' Celebrity Juice'' as a member of

Fearne Cotton Fearne Wood ( Cotton; born 3 September 1981) is an English broadcaster and author''.'' She began her career in the late 1990s presenting various children's television shows for GMTV, CITV and CBBC. In 2007, she presented '' The Xtra Factor'', a ...

's team. The next year he starred in ITVs ''100 years younger in 21 days'' and appeared on '' Celebrity Mastermind'', with the specialist subject of Manchester. In August 2020, Ryder appeared in BBC Two comedy '' Mandy'' created by

Diane Morgan Diane Morgan (born 5 October 1975) is an English actress, comedian, television presenter, and writer. She is best known for playing Philomena Cunk on Charlie Brooker's '' Weekly Wipe'' and in other mockumentaries, as Liz in the BBC Two sitcom ...

in which he portrayed a fictional version of himself.

Personal life

Ryder has six children. For some time, he was addicted to heroin, saying he overcame it by taking up cycling. Ryder contested contracts he drew up with his Black Grape management team, compiled in 1993. Following his dismissal of the company, they sued him for £160,000. The income from his £30,000 a year ''Daily Sport'' column went solely to cover his costs. His appearance on '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' (2010) and a £130,000 book deal financed Ryder out of the contract. Ryder was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia later in life, saying in the 60s and 70s there was "no such thing as learning difficulties". "When I was at school they didn't know about ADHD, there were just four sets, one being the brightest and four being crowd control"... so "for the first 40-something years of my life I didn't know I had it DHD. In 2021 he took part in Channel 4's ''Stand Up and Deliver''; mentored by

Jason Manford Jason John Manford (born 26 May 1981) is an English comedian, presenter, actor and singer. Manford was a team captain on the Channel 4 panel show ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' from 2007 until 2010 and has presented numerous television shows for the BBC a ...

, he developed his own stand-up set. Manford explained in an interview “Shaun’s got severe ADHD, so remembering things, collecting information and taking on new thoughts, it’s been a real challenge." Ryder took part in Channel 4's '' Fame in the Family''; where Ryder discovered three long lost relatives, Tracey and James had the most direct blood connection, both second cousins. Ryder left school unable to read the alphabet. “But, y’see, there’s different ways of learning. I was 26 years old when I learnt the alphabet. My girlfriend at the time taught it to me through singing, and I learnt it in five minutes. It also helps me to learn when I have a stress ball in my hand, it’s called fiddling. When I have nothing in my hand, I can’t take anything in. I can’t retain any information.”

Discography

Solo albums *2003 – '' Amateur Night in the Big Top'' *2021 – ''Visits from Future Technology'' Compilation *2010 – ''Shaun William Ryder XXX: 30 Years of Bellyaching''

Videography

Solo *1996 – "Don't Take My Kindness for Weakness" (with The Heads) *2001 – "Barcelona" (with

) *2003 – "Scooter Girl" *2005 – " DARE" (with Gorillaz) *2005 – "Is This the Way to Amarillo?"

Awards

NME Single of the Year Every December, British music magazine '' NME'' compiles a list of what it considers the best single or track of the year. It was started in 1975. The list is usually published in one of the issues sold before Christmas – in 2006 it was published ...

1996 – Black Grape's "Reverend Black Grape" *Godlike Genius –

NME Awards The ''NME'' Awards is an annual music awards show in the United Kingdom, founded by the music magazine '' NME'' (''New Musical Express''). The first awards show was held in 1953 as the ''NME'' Poll Winners Concerts, shortly after the founding ...

, 2000 *John Peel Music Innovation Award (for Gorillaz) – Shockwaves NME Awards 2006

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * *

External links

*
Shaun Ryder narrowly escapes a heavy fine after giving evidence at a trialShaun Ryder was caricature of himself in Happy MondaysInterview with Shaun Ryder in LeftLion magazine 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryder, Shaun 1962 births Living people Male actors from Manchester Alternative rock singers Alternative dance musicians Black Grape members British alternative rock musicians English male video game actors English columnists English dance musicians English male singer-songwriters English television personalities Happy Mondays members Music in Salford Musicians from Manchester People from Little Hulton Male actors from Salford Britpop musicians Madchester musicians I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (British TV series) participants