Happy Mondays star Paul Ryder, 58, died hours before gig

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Tributes have poured in for Shaun Ryder’s brother and Happy Mondays bassist Paul who died suddenly aged 58.

The musician was found dead on Friday just hours before the band were due to play at Kubix Festival in Sunderland.

Shaun, 59, and Paul were the original founders of The Happy Mondays that first formed in Salford in 1980.

The group were a key part of the ‘Madchester’ scene and were hugely popular in the 1980s and 90s.

Many of Happy Mondays’ contemporaries and fans paid tribute to the ‘legend’ bassist Paul.

Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown tweeted to his 177,000 followers:  ‘REST IN PEACE PAUL RYDER A GREAT FRIEND A GREAT MUSICIAN A GREAT FELLA BIG LOVE TO AMELIA JACOB SONNY CHICO AND THE FAMILY AND BAND LOVE YA LONGTIME PABS X’

Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh replied to brother Shaun online saying: ‘Terrible news Shaun. All the best wishes to your family.’

Fellow bassist and co-founder of Joy Division and New Order Peter Hook said: ‘What a shock… Paul Ryder was the archetypal solid, quiet, strong, dependable bass player. 

‘A lovely man — respectful & charming. When they got back together I remember seeing them play & he looked so happy. And they needed him back so much, he gave them soul & passion. RIP mate.’

Happy Mondays and the Ryder family announced Paul’s sudden death on a Facebook post which said: ‘The Ryder family and Happy Mondays band members are deeply saddened and shocked to say that Paul Ryder passed away this morning.

‘A true pioneer and legend. He will be forever missed. We thank you for respecting the privacy of all concerned at this time.’

Tributes continued to be sent out from across the music industry in reaction to Paul’s death.  

The band Fat Cops wrote on Twitter: ‘RIP Paul Ryder, who was a good friend to us when we toured with Happy Mondays. Hell of a bass player.’

Founding member of Oasis Paul Arthurs shared: ‘Thoughts with you all Shaun, sad news xxxxx.’ 

While musician Rob Smith shared: ‘RIP Paul Ryder.’

DJ Grahame Park added: ‘No! Very sad news. Sorry for your loss. Sending love.’ 

UB40’s Ali Campbell offered his sympathy adding: ‘Condolences to you and yours Shaun! Stay strong, Big Love.’ 

A rock star from a young age, Paul struggled with drug addiction throughout his life.  

He once said his shy nature was part of the reason he started to take drugs.

Paul said: ‘I am embarrassingly shy — that’s why I used to take copious amount of drugs before I went on stage … with Shaun being a Leo and older he was so much more the extrovert, and from what I know he always loved the attention.’

After their heyday in the late 80s and early 90s, Paul struggled with heroin addictions. 

He told The Mirror in 2019: ‘We couldn’t have Calpol for the kids. I’d drink the lot.’ 

In a candid interview in 2007, he said of the drug use: ‘It was wild. I was 18 and recording an album. I’d learnt how to read and write at school but my real education began with the Mondays.

‘I’d been using drugs since I was 17. If you have the money and the lifestyle it’s part and parcel of the job, especially when people in the industry are giving it to you for free.

‘That was especially the case in America. They learned pretty quickly that if there were no drugs, then there was no show.’ 

His brother Shaun has also opened up about his 20-year drug addiction in the past.  

In 2014, Paul told MailOnline how he treated his now 16-year-old son’s cancer with cannabis.

He had said that as a recovering addict he would never have encouraged Chico to take drugs.

But when faced with his son’s diagnosis — a rare form of soft tissue cancer — the musician said he and his wife took the decision to use cannabis oil.

Chico fell ill in November 2012, complaining of a sore throat.

But just weeks after that Christmas his family received the devastating diagnosis — he was suffering the cancer rhabdomyosarcoma.

Doctors in Los Angeles where the family lived prescribed a synthetic form of cannabis to ease the side effects of the chemotherapy such as nausea and vomiting.

But Chico’s parents took the treatment one step further, giving their then 11-year-old son cannabis oil, through his stomach tube — with the full support of his medical team.

Paul, originally from Salford, told MailOnline: ‘I found myself coaching him on how to inhale cannabis vapour from a vapourising machine.

‘It was surreal — but it worked brilliantly, and gave him instant relief. My drug problems have been well documented. I nearly lost my life. But now they are being used instead to help Chico.’

Chico’s illness came as a huge shock to his parents and older brother Sonny, who was aged 12 at the time.

His mother Angela, 50, said: ‘Before he became ill, he was a normal, energetic little boy. He loved skate-boarding, dirt-biking and football.

‘Everything was going well until we were hit with an almighty bombshell.’

A sore throat didn’t clear up and a swelling appeared on the side of Chico’s neck. Initial tests for lymphoma were clear — and the family breathed a sigh of relief.

But five days before Christmas 2012, he became very ill.

With Paul away on tour with the newly reformed band, Angela kept him updated with texts.

And one night, as he was about to take to the stage in London, his phone bleeped with news which was to change his life.

‘They are admitting him into hospital for more tests. 50-50 chance it’s cancer,’ the message read.

Paul said: ‘I was in a daze throughout the gig, I can’t remember playing at all.

‘It was so surreal to know that the rest of the world was oblivious, enjoying the festivities, tucking into turkey and having happy family times, while we were stuck in a hospital, dealing with our worst nightmare.’

Three days after Christmas, Chico was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma.

Paul told MailOnline: ‘I walked in there, to his hospital room and I just lost it, he looked so sick and frail. I went straight into the bathroom and threw up.’

It was the start of a battle which would see Chico cheat death more than once — while his father and uncle, Happy Mondays front man Shaun, hid their secret heartache from fans.

His wife said: ‘Shaun was shell-shocked; he sent text messages to Paul saying he couldn’t believe it and how he wished we weren’t so far away. Like most people, he just didn’t know what to say.’

In January 2020, it was revealed that Chico, now 16, had been in remission for over two and a half years.

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