EXCLUSIVE Happy Mondays legend Bez said he was ‘really worried’ for his close pal Shaun Ryder’, who had to ‘soldier on’ despite his illness
Shaken Shaun Ryder’s pneumonia battle left him as sick as a “dead horse”.
The Happy Mondays frontman, 63, was so stricken with the potentially deadly illness he was forced to skip the funeral of Stone Roses bassist Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield. He and his Black Grape bandmate Paul ‘Kermit’ Leveridge both fell drastically ill as their band was finishing a tour on December 20 – two days before Mani’s farewell in their home city Manchester.
Shaun’s Happy Mondays sidekick and best pal Bez, 61, has now graphically detailed how badly the singer and Kermit were battered by their illnesses. He said Shaun’s flu went from a lurgy to pneumonia as he pushed himself to finish 2025’s Black Grape tour.
Bez added: “You know what, I’ve been really worried for Shaun this year. He’s done this Black Grape tour and halfway through the tour they’ve got that bloody two-week lurgy what’s been going about.
“So he’s carried on touring and the whole band’s got this thing and they’re on tour, so they’re committed to the tour. You can’t just like, pull out cos you’ve got a bit of a cold or anything. Nobody would be happy about that, you know what I mean, so you’ve got to soldier on.”
Bez added about his battle to get Shaun to go on antibiotics to kill off his pneumonia: “Both him and Kermit went into pneumonia after the tour finished. And I kept saying – my youngest son had it and he had to go get antibiotics cos he has asthma and he couldn’t breathe.
“I said, ‘Listen, mate, you’re at the point now, you’ve got to get them’ – so he’s ended up on the penicillin, so he’s on the way back thankfully. He feels like a nuclear explosion’s just gone off in his body, of wellness spreading round him again.
“And I’ve been like saying, honestly, for weeks, it’s been like talking to a dead horse.
“He wouldn’t have it, you know what I mean? But he’s had it now, his wife made him go and get some.
“He’s had a rough few weeks with it, you know what I mean, ’cos it went into pneumonia and all that, which is really dangerous.
“Hopefully he’ll be better for March. We’re all at a dodgy age it seems, these days.”
Shaun told BBC Breakfast about being forced to pull out of attending Mani’s funeral and being left shaken to his core by his illness: “Me and Kermit ended up with pneumonia. I had to throw everything I could down me – every sort of painkiller and everything else, just to get through it.
“When I got back, I couldn’t even go to the funeral. I got back the day before Mani’s funeral and collapsed and so I couldn’t even go.”
Shaun spent the Christmas break in bed at home.
Mani died in November aged 63 in his sleep due to respiratory issues caused by long-standing emphysema, with his funeral held at Manchester Cathedral on December 22 attracting rockers including Ian Brown, Liam Gallagher and Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie as well as football heroes David Beckham and Gary Neville.
Ahead of the 35th anniversary of classic album Pills ‘n’ Thrills And Bellyaches, the Happy Mondays have confirmed a 22-date tour for March and April.The tour begins in Newcastle on March 13 and ends in Belfast on April 24, and includes dates at The Roundhouse in London and a hometown show at Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse.Joining the tour as very special guests at all dates are The Farm and Northside. Tickets from alttickets.com and happymondaysofficial.co.uk
