Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder has revealed he was unable to attend Stone Roses legend Mani’s funeral in December due to a horror health battle with pneumonia
Shaun Ryder couldn’t attend Mani’s funeral as he caught pneumonia.
The Happy Mondays frontman has revealed that the horror health battle forced him to miss the Stone Roses legend’s Manchester funeral last month. Ryder said that he was on tour with his band Black Grape and had planned on going to the service.
However, he was forced to miss it when disaster struck. He told BBC Radio Manchester: “I got back to go to Mani’s funeral and collapsed, I couldn’t get out of bed. Then I got hold of some antibiotics, so it was like a nuclear explosion going off and one feels a lot better now.”
Gary “Mani” Mounfield, the beloved Stone Roses bassist who also played with Primal Scream, was laid to rest on December 22. Tons of his friends, family and music and football legends turned up for the funeral at Manchester Cathedral.
This included the likes of Liam Gallagher, Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown, Shaun’s Happy Mondays bandmate Bez, and footy stars David Beckham and Gary Neville. Fans were lining the streets as Mani’s funeral cortege went from the star’s home in Heaton Moor in Stockport to Manchester’s city centre.
Shaun and Bez were speaking to BBC Radio Manchester ahead of their upcoming Manchester show on April 11. The Happy Mondays are touring 35 years after the release of their iconic album, Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches.
Shaun has opened up about shedding more than two stone by using fat jabs that were prescribed to him. He told The Sun: “Yes, I still do them. When you’ve got an underactive thyroid, if you just had lettuce and strawberries, you’d still be 26stone.”
He also spoke of how he is refusing to give up performing on stage despite suffering illness. He added: “I’ve still performed with the flu when we’re on tour.
“Regardless of if you had your leg chopped off, or whatever, you don’t sack off shows.”
Mani died in his sleep at the age of 63 from “respiratory issues” related to the lung condition emphysema. He died at his family home.
According to the MEN, he was not taken to hospital with his death being declared at the scene. Police are not believed to have attended the address with a Greater Manchester Police (GMP) spokesperson confirming the tragedy was ‘non-suspicious’.
Mani’s passing was broken to the world in a post on social media by his brother Greg. His borther wrote on Facebook: “IT IS WITH THE HEAVIEST OF HEARTS THAT I HAVE TO ANNOUNCE THE SAD PASSING OF MY BROTHER GARY MANI MOUNFIELD. RIP RKID.”
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