Shaun Ryder | |
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Ryder at the 2007 Coachella Music Festival.
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Background information | |
Birth name | Shaun William George Ryder |
Also known as | X |
Born |
Little Hulton, Salford, Greater Manchester, England |
23 August 1962
Genres | Alternative rock, Madchester, baggy, alternative dance, electronica, Britpop |
Occupation(s) | Musician, singer-songwriter, actor, television personality, author, columnist |
Instruments | Vocals, saxophone, guitar, piano, bass |
Years active | 1980–present |
Labels | Factory |
Associated acts | Bez, Happy Mondays, Black Grape, Gorillaz |
Website | happymondaysonline |
Shaun William George Ryder (born 23 August 1962) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, actor, television personality, author, and newspaper columnist. He is best known as the lead singer of the Happy Mondays and Black Grape, and for being the runner-up of the tenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.
As the singer for Happy Mondays, Ryder was known for "often witty lyrics".Tony Wilson is known for having compared Ryder's lyricism to the work of W.B. Yeats. His distinctive vocal style has been described as a form of Sprechgesang. Ryder's struggle with drugs led to the break-up of Happy Mondays in 1992. The film 24 Hour Party People featured the (semi-fictional) story of Shaun Ryder's youth and the life of Happy Mondays whilst signed with Factory Records in the late '80s and early '90s. In the film Ryder is portrayed by Danny Cunningham.
Ryder has taken part in two reformations of Happy Mondays (1999–2000 and 2004–present) and released a solo album, Amateur Night in the Big Top, to a mixed critical reception. He was involved in litigation with former Black Grape management, which he eventually lost.
In 2000, following the Big Day Out Festival in Australia with Happy Mondays, Ryder stayed on in Perth, Western Australia with Pete Carroll who had a 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 from Cabaret Voltaire and Lucky Oceans from American country band 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 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.