Shaun Ryder (aka X)
(born Shaun William Ryder on August 23, 1962, in Little
Hulton, near Salford,
Lancashire)
is an English
singer and songwriter and an ex postman who became famous in the "Madchester"
era band Happy Mondays. His lyrics,
dismissed by some as drug induced gibberish, also received critical
praise for their wit and musical fusion with the sound of the band.
Ryder's struggle with drugs eventually led to the break up of the
Mondays in 1992.
Shaun Ryder posing on the cover
of New Musical
Express, 1990.
The film 24 Hour Party People,
starring Steve Coogan who played Tony Wilson, was loosely based on Shaun
Ryder and the Happy Mondays while they were signed to Factory
Records in the late eighties and early nineties.
Despite rumours of how his substance abuse had finally caught
up with him, Ryder returned to the spotlight in 1995 with his new
project, Black Grape, an immediate
success whose first release, the ironically named It's Great
When You're Straight... Yeah, topped the British album chart
and spawned several hit singles. The follow up album did not achieve
the same critical or commercial success, and the group split in 1997.
Ryder wrote a column for the Daily
Sport newspaper in which he gave his own take on current news events
and celebrity goings-on. It was in this column that Ryder famously
announced his intention to reform the Happy Mondays before even making
any fellow former members aware of this.
Ryder has taken part in two reformations of the Happy Mondays
(1999-2000 and 2004-) and released a solo album to mixed critical
acclaim named Amateur Night At the Big Top and was
involved in litigation with former Black Grape management, which he
eventually lost.
In 2004, The Mondays reunited to play a comeback gig called
"Get Loaded In The Park" on Clapham Common with the only original
members being Bez,
Shaun Ryder and Gaz Whelan. Two years later they released the single
"Playground Superstar", used in the football movie Goal,
which was released after Bez had won Celebrity Big Brother.
He was also the focus of a 2004 BBC documentary, entitled Shaun
Ryder: The Ecstasy and the Agony. In 2004, Ryder landed the
job of a voice actor in Grand Theft Auto: San
Andreas in which he played Maccer, a washed-up,
self-abused
musician who was planning a major comeback tour in 1992.
Noodle and Shaun Ryder in the
"DARE" music video
In 2005, he collaborated with the Gorillaz
on "DARE",
a song on their Demon Days album.
In the music video, he is featured largely as a disembodied head kept
alive through a series of tubes, living in animated band member
Noodle's closet. It was stated by the commentator on the 2006
BRIT Awards that the song's name came from Ryder's inability to
pronounce the word "there".
Ryder also collaborated with Ex-Talking Heads Jerry Harrison,
Tina Weymoth and Chris Frantz on their post David Byrne album No
Talking, Just Head. He has also collaborated
with Intastella and
appeared on Peter Kay's "Is This The Way to Amarillo?" charity music
video.
Perhaps Ryder’s most unusual collaboration to date is his
appearance on British tenor
Russell
Watson’s 2006
album The Ultimate Collection. Ryder lends his
vocals to the Freddie Mercury and Montserrat
Caballé song "Barcelona".
In 1997, Ryder made two live appearances on Channel 4's
pre-watershed show TFI Friday,
in both of which he repeatedly used the word "fuck". This led to his
being banned from ever appearing on a live Channel 4 programme
regardless of what time of day it is; he is the only person to date to
be specifically referred to by name in Channel 4's Compliance Manual,
which states:
- "Please note that the Channel 4 Board has undertaken to the
ITC that Shaun
Ryder will not appear live on Channel 4."
Shaun's ex-wife Oriole, with whom he has a daughter Coco, is
the daughter of British folk
singer Donovan.
Appeared at the 2007 Coachella Music Festival in Indio, Calif.
where he mostly stood in one place, read his lyrics off a teleprompter
and repeatedly apologized to the audience for his poor performance.
Rapper Mickey Avalon appeared on stage with Ryder during the set.
In July
2007,Ryder flouted the UK's newly implemented smoking ban after he was
witnessed lighting up cigarettes at a concert at the Ritz nightclub,
Manchester, with his band The Happy Mondays. Representatives from the
city council have apparently indicated they will start investigating
Ryder's actions, and also visit the nightclub involved[1].
Awards
- NME Single Of The Year 1996 - Black Grape's "Reverend Black
Grape"
- Godlike Genius - NME Awards 2000
- John Peel Music Innovation Award (for Gorillaz) -
Shockwaves NME Awards 2006
References
-
Compliance Manual. Channel
4 108.
Bibliography
- Middles,
Mick (1997). Shaun Ryder - Happy Mondays, Black Grape
& Other Traumas. Independent Music Press. ISBN 1-897783-11-6.
- Verrico,
Lisa (1998). High Life 'N' Low Down Dirty - The Thrills and
Spills of Shaun Ryder. Ebury Press. ISBN
0-09-185419-9.
- Middles,
Mick (1998). Shaun Ryder... In His Own Words.
Omnibus Press. ISBN 0.7119.6815.2.
- Bez
(1998). Freaky Dancin' - Me And The Mondays. Pan. ISBN 0-330-48197-5.
- Haslam,
Dave (1999). Manchester, England. 4th Estate. ISBN 1-84115-146-7.
- Wilson,
Tony (2002). 24 Hour Party People - What The Sleeve Notes
Never Tell You. Channel 4 Books. ISBN
0-7522-2025-X.
- Warburton,
John and Ryder, Shaun (2003). Hallelujah!: The Extraordinary
Story of Shaun Ryder and "Happy Mondays". Virgin Books. ISBN 1-4053-1031-6.
External links
