Paul Ryder

Paul Anthony Ryder (24 April 1964 – 15 July 2022) was an English musician. He was a bass player and a founding member of the Manchester band Happy Mondays with his brother Shaun Ryder. His bass playing was credited with bringing funk to the band's mixture of indie rock, Northern soul and house music, and with underpinning the Madchester sound of the late 1980s. Ryder was born in Salford to Linda (née Carroll) and Derek Ryder, a postal worker, and was brought up in the Salford suburb of Little Hulton.

Ryder received a bass guitar as a birthday present from his father, who was musical, and taught himself to play. At 13 he attended a Thin Lizzy concert in Manchester, catching a plectrum thrown into the audience by guitarist Scott Gorham.

On leaving school in 1980 he worked for the Royal Mail. While on his round he posted a demo cassette through the door of New Order bassist Peter Hook, bringing the group to the attention of Tony Wilson and Factory Records; they went on to perform at Wilson's club, the Haçienda. His bandmates included his brother Shaun, Gary Whelan, Mark "Bez" Berry, Paul Davis and Mark Day; Rowetta had joined as a backing vocalist by the time of the band's biggest hit singles.

The Ryder brothers fell out in the 1990s as both brothers struggled with heroin addiction, and the group split in 1993. Ryder returned for a reunion between 1999 and 2001, during which the band had a hit with a cover of Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back in Town" and supported Oasis at Wembley in 2000. He left in 2001 and moved to the United States, saying that being in a band with his brother was "not going to be conducive to sobriety" after he had stopped taking drugs; Happy Mondays reformed without him in 2004. remaining a full-time member until his death in 2022.

In 2016, Happy Mondays received the Inspiration Award at the 61st Ivor Novello Awards, with Ryder named alongside Shaun Ryder, Mark Day, Paul Davis and Gary Whelan.

Musical style Ryder's early influences were Motown, and particularly the bass playing of session musician James Jamerson on records by the Supremes, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, along with the Stranglers' Jean-Jacques Burnel.

Writing in The Guardian after Ryder's death, the critic Alexis Petridis attributed the band's funk feel — unusual among British indie groups of the mid-1980s, whose influences were drawn largely from white rock — chiefly to Ryder's bass playing, and named Bootsy Collins and Jamerson as touchstones. In a group whose musicianship was sometimes questioned, Petridis wrote, Ryder's bass provided an anchor that the listener could hold on to amid the density of the band's sound.

Acting Ryder appeared in the films The Ghosts of Oxford Street, Losing It, and 24 Hour Party People, where he played the part of a gangster. He was portrayed in the latter film by Paul Popplewell. According to Record Collector, the band's name came from a nickname Brown had given Ryder, referring to the pounding attack of his bass playing. Reviewing the album for that magazine, Mick Middles awarded it four stars, describing it as a coherent and consistent set of ten songs, largely self-financed and built outward from Ryder's basslines, on which Ryder appeared intent on recapturing the funk of the Happy Mondays without the chemical excess of that period.

Ryder lived in Los Angeles where he continued to write music. He supported Tom Tom Club on two of the dates on the North America tour in October 2010, playing gigs in San Francisco and Los Angeles. He was joined by Eddy Gronfier, Neo Garcia on drums and Matt Cheadle on guitar.

The Paul Ryder Tapes In the months leading up to his death, Ryder recorded a video podcast series, The Paul Ryder Tapes, with his ex-wife, the journalist and television producer Angela Smith, discussing his life, his relationship with his brother and the history of Happy Mondays. He completed recording 12 days before his death, and the series was released from July 2023, a year on.

Personal life and campaigning Ryder's first marriage, to his childhood sweetheart Alison, ended in divorce in 1991. He later moved to Los Angeles, where he began a relationship with the British television producer Angela Smith. He had four children.

Ryder subsequently campaigned for access to medical cannabis in the United Kingdom, calling for an amnesty for patients using it and for regulation to ensure the quality of available oil. He said the family could not claim that cannabis oil alone had cured Chico's cancer, as he had received conventional treatment at the same time, and that he had been misquoted in press reports suggesting otherwise.

In October 2014 a fundraising event, Chico's Kickin Cancer, was held at the Palace Hotel in Manchester, headlined by Happy Mondays with sets from Northside, Peter Hook and the Light and Northern Uproar, and DJ sets from Mani, Clint Boon and 808 State.

Death Ryder was found dead by his mother on 15 July 2022, aged 58, the day the band were due to play at a festival in Sunderland. He had been reporting headaches upon arriving in Salford after flying from his home in Los Angeles. The family later reported that the coroner had said that Ryder died as a result of Ischaemic heart disease and diabetes, but they were waiting for the full coroner's report to be released.

His funeral was held in Manchester on 4 August 2022. Rowetta and Ian McCulloch of Echo & the Bunnymen sang at the service, and Alan McGee, Ian Brown and Bez shared memories of Ryder, whom McGee referred to by his nickname "Horse"; Peter Hook was among those attending.

Legacy Press coverage of Ryder's death credited him with the band's signature rolling groove, heard on singles including "Step On" and "Kinky Afro", and with the group's fusion of rave-era dance rhythms with indie rock.