Paul Ryder, the Happy Mondays’ bassist and the brother of singer Shaun Ryder, died at the age of 58.
According to a statement, the family and friends were “extremely astonished and heartbroken to say that Paul Ryder passed away suddenly this morning.”
The band became well-known during the “Madchester” era in the late 1980s and early 1990s thanks to classics like Step On and Kinky Afro.
They embodied the city’s addicting acid house culture with a fusion of groovy rock beats and dance rhythms that drew club goers and indie fans alike.
Mark Day and Gary Whelan formed the band in Salford in 1980. After signing with Factory Records, the group released its debut album in 1987, followed by Bummed in 1988.
The bands Pills ‘n Thrills and Bellyaches achieved unheard-of levels of fame in the 1990s as they rode the tide of a drug-fueled musical scene that merged indie and rave.
Ryder stated in an interview, “The sounds I played on the Mondays were from Northern Soul and disco.”
I simply repeated the basslines because I am unable to read music. They eventually turned into my own basslines, though, because I was never able to get them just right.
Ian Brown, the lead singer of The Stone Roses, another well-known band at the time in the area, was among those paying respects.
The band disbanded following the drug-fueled turbulence of the recording sessions for the Happy Mondays’ fourth album, Yes Please, in Barbados, and the Ryder brothers both battled heroin addiction.
After a disagreement with his brother, Paul Ryder, left the group, and he didn’t rejoin until the group’s second reunion in 2012.
Recently, they started up again, and on Friday, they were slated to perform as the festival’s opening act in Sunderland.
In the Happy Mondays song-inspired film 24 Hour Party People, which is based on the Madchester music scene, Paul Ryder played a mobster. He also starred in The Ghosts of Oxford Street and Losing It.
