Bez (dancer)
| Bez | |
|---|---|
Bez performing live in 2007
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Mark Berry |
| Born |
18 April 1964 Bolton, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) |
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| Instruments | Maracas |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Associated acts | |
Mark Berry (born 18 April 1964), known professionally by his stage name Bez, is an English percussionist, author, dancer, media personality and comedian. He is a member of the rock bands Happy Mondays and Black Grape and plays the maracas.
Mark "Bez" Berry was born on 18 April 1964, in Bolton, Lancashire, England. He grew up in Bolton and Little Hulton, Salford before moving to live with his grandparents in Wigan at the age of 16. He is the son of a police detective inspector. He was a maraca player, dancer and the mascot of Salford alternative rock band Happy Mondays, having been invited in by lead singer Shaun Ryder shortly after the band was formed. He is chiefly remembered for his bizarre style of dancing, and use of the maracas. The band's second single was called "Freaky Dancin'", and was rumoured to be a tribute to Bez. However, Happy Mondays' singer Shaun Ryder stated that this was not the case in his autobiography "Twistin My Melon".
After the Happy Mondays broke up, Bez became a member of Black Grape, a group founded by Mondays band member Shaun Ryder, but he left them in 1997. In 1997, he had a feature on the BBC Two television programme The Sunday Show called Science with Bez. When both faced large tax bills, he and Ryder reconciled and reformed the Happy Mondays in 1998, but this was short-lived.
A book about his experiences in both bands, Freaky Dancin' (), was published by Pan MacMillan in 1998. In the opening chapter Bez detailed an incident during a Happy Mondays gig at Manchester's The Haçienda nightclub in 1986. In the middle of the set he fell off the stage and cut his forehead. In the book he writes: "The doc tells me to take it easy and put my feet up. I thought, 'I'm not fucking havin' that'. I got some of [lead guitarist] Moose's acid, dripped it in the cut and ran back out with me shakers. Fuckin' raz!"
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