Shaun Ryder

Shaun Ryder quit drugs by going cycling.

The Black Grape and Happy Mondays frontman has previously spoken about his use of heroin and ecstacy and says it took mammoth 15-hour bike rides to curb his cravings for narcotics.

He said: ''It was cycling that got me off drugs. I'd get on my bike very early in the morning and keep cycling until very late at night, day after day, until it was out of the system. I was pedalling from 8am until 11pm. But once that's done, you still have to deal with the mental stuff.''

Continue reading: Shaun Ryder Cycled To Sobriety

Shaun Ryder believes Ed Sheeran's ongoing chart success is due to how the industry now works.

The Happy Mondays and Black Grape singer insists the charts are ''irrelevant'' so doesn't really care that the 'Shape of You' singer recently had a record-breaking 16 tracks in the top 20 singles chart and his latest album 'Divide' has been at the top of the charts since its release.

He told NME: ''I'm fine with how Ed did it, I have no problems with that.

Continue reading: Shaun Ryder Argues Ed Sheeran's Success Is Due To Industry

Shaun Ryder says Black Grape's new music has ''topped the first album'' because they've ditched the party lifestyle

The 54-year-old frontman - who formed the group in 1993 with his Happy Mondays band mate Mark 'Bez' Berry , Paul Leveridge (Kermit), Carl 'Psycho' McCarthy and drummer Ged Lynch - believes ''not feeding habits'' like he and Bez openly admitted to doing in their earlier years, helped them focus on their new tracks for a better sound.

He said: ''I think we've topped the first album. We had certain restrictions on the first album, at the time there wasn't many people who was a black guy and a white guy trying to do hip-hop, especially in the States. What we had to cater for was that big white rock audience, to make it grow we had to have a few rock tunes in there so it didn't quite come out the way we'd have liked it.

Continue reading: Shaun Ryder: Black Grape Is Better Than Ever Since Ditching Our Habits

Shaun Ryder has come out of the closet and admitted that not only is he a fan of the X Factor, but more specifically he is a fan of this season's winner, James Arthur. That said, there's one thing about Arthur that Ryder is not a fan of and that is his dental hygiene.

Speaking to The Sun, the Happy Mondays frontman said that he is partial to the occasional episode of the ITV talent show, and a fan of this season's winner, but recommended that Arthur have a dentist get to work and fix his smile for him or else he may end up in the pile of talent show stars, who burnt out all too soon, before he knows it.

Ryder, who has himself reaped the benefits that a mouth remodelling brings, told the paper, "I've seen quite a bit. I quite like that James Arthur kid. He's good, but he should see my dentist."

Continue reading: Shaun Ryder: "I Like James Arthur - But He Should See My Dentist"