Shaun Ryder

Shaun Ryder
Shaun Ryder at the Coachella Music Festival, 2007.
Background information
Birth name	Shaun William Ryder
Also known as	X
Born	23 August 1962 in Little Hulton, England (age 46)
Genre(s)	Alternative dance
Occupation(s)	vocalist, postman
Instrument(s)	vocals
Years active	1980–present
Associated acts	Happy Mondays Black Grape Gorillaz

Shaun Ryder (aka X) (born Shaun William Ryder on 23 August 1962, in Little Hulton, near Salford) is an English vocalist and songwriter and an ex-postman who became famous in the "Madchester" era.

Happy Mondays era

His lyrics in the band Happy Mondays, 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. 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 eighties and early nineties.

Black Grape era

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, Stupid Stupid Stupid, did not achieve the same critical or commercial success, and the group split in 1998.

Late nineties and early 2000

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.

In 2009 he made a cameo appearance as himself in Channel 4 Drama Shameless.

Collaborations

In 2005, he collaborated with the Gorillaz on "DARE", a song on their Demon Days album. In the music video, he is featured as a large disembodied head kept alive through a series of tubes and electronic wires, 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 Weymouth 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 2001 debut album The Voice. Ryder lends his vocals to the Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé song "Barcelona".

Controversy

Channel 4

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."^[1]

Smoking in Public

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.^[2]

Personal life

Ryder's ex-wife Oriole, with whom he has a daughter Coco Sian (born April 1994), is the daughter of British folk singer Donovan. He also has a daughter from an earlier relationship with a woman named Trish, a daughter named Glen Otis Anne (born 16 February 1991).

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

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Shaun Ryder

References

1. ^ "Compliance Manual". Channel 4. 108. http://www.channel4.com/corporate/4producers/resources/documents/ComplianceManual.pdf. 
2. ^ [1]

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

• Shaun Ryder at the Internet Movie Database
• Shaun Ryder narrowly escapes a heavy fine after giving evidence at a trial
• Grape Minds: Shaun Ryder is up there with Dylan
• Straight but not great: Shaun Ryder
• Interview with Shaun Ryder in LeftLion magazine 2007