EXCLUSIVE: Shaun Ryder says he wants to be involved in a benefit gig to pay tribute to Stone Roses bass legend Gary “Mani” Mounfield, who died on November 20 aged 63
18:31, 29 Nov 2025Updated 18:32, 29 Nov 2025
Shaun is opening up about paying tribute to a long lost friend
Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder says he wants to be involved in a benefit gig to pay tribute to Stone Roses bass legend Gary “Mani” Mounfield.
Mani, who died on November 20 aged 63, left behind 12-year-old twins Gene and George, who had already lost their mum, Mani’s wife Imelda, in 2003 to bowel cancer. Shaun tells us: “I’d definitely be up for a concert, or a benefit. Something for those twins, Gene and George. And of course, in Mani’s memory.
“He was my mate. I’ve been friends with Mani since the 1980s. He was a funny, beautiful bloke. Nobody had a bad word to say about him. It didn’t come as a huge shock to me though as he’d been poorly for quite a while. It was more of a shock when his wife Imelda went, really. It’s the boys… I keep thinking about his two twins. They’ve lost their mum and now their dad. It’s terrible.”
Shaun wants to pay tribute to Mani
Shaun is hitting the road in 2026 for a UK tour to mark 35 years since Happy Monday’s seminal albums Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches
Mani follows a sad lineage when it comes to bass players, says Shaun, referencing the death of his own brother Paul Ryder in 2022, aged 58. He explains: “It’s the curse of Manchester bass players, isn’t it? Our Paul died, The Smiths’ bassist Andy Rourke died… now Mani’s gone,” he said.
The last time Shaun saw his friend was at Oasis’s string of comeback gigs at Manchester’s Heaton Park in July. “He was there every night, so was I,” says Shaun. “And we were actually saying we should make some music, get together.”
Of fellow Manchester rockers Oasis, who dedicated Live Forever to Mani at last gig in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Shaun is full of praise. He says: “We’re pals, yeah. I’ve seen more of Noel than I’ve seen of Liam, but they were better than ever in those reunion shows. The band’s really tight. They’ve lost nothing of the rawness, it’s still rock ’n’ roll, but they seem more professional. “Liam is performing better than I’ve ever seen him.”
As for his own music, thousands still adore The Happy Mondays. They are hitting the road in 2026 for a UK tour to mark 35 years since their seminal albums Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches.
Shaun says: “We’ll play tracks from our albums Bummed, Pills ’n’ Thrills, all sorts.
“We even do one from my least favourite album, Yes Please. Those songs still sound really good today. With us it was always sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. Now we’re just left with the rock ’n’ roll. We’re all pensioners – but we’re looking forward to it, you know.”
The singer, who has always been very open about his drug-taking, says he and bandmate Bez once took LSD every day for a year – so it’s no wonder he doesn’t remember recording most of Pills ’n’ Thrills.
But what he will never forget, is LA’s legendary Capitol Studios. He says: “I remember walking in and seeing pictures of Frank Sinatra. I remember smoking a load of opium. Our pals had come back from a Grateful Dead concert and gifted me a pile of it.
“From what I can remember, every time the boys were working on a track, I was writing the lyrics. I wrote all the songs on that album really quickly.
“We arrived in LA and should have done a show that night but decided we weren’t doing it because Soul II Soul were playing in this little club and that was more important.”
Despite his hard-living, hedonistic past, Shaun says he is doing OK today, except for a myriad health conditions. He says: “I’ve got alopecia, an underactive thyroid, I’ve had a hip replacement and my other one needs doing. And I’ve got ADHD. I didn’t even realise it as a youngster, but I started taking heroin to self-medicate, to make me feel normal.
“Now I understand why I got into drink and drugs at an early age. And now, because of the meds I’ve been on for a couple of years, I can focus. Of my six kids, five are ADHD or autistic.”
The Happy Mondays’ 2026 tour starts at O2 City Hall, Newcastle, March 13.
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