Shaun Ryder opens up about pneumonia battle that caused him to miss Mani’s funeral
Shaun Ryder has revealed he recently battled pneumonia, which caused him to miss the funeral of Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield.
The Stone Roses legend was laid to rest in Manchester late last month, in a ceremony that was attended by his former bandmates, as well as Liam Gallagher, David Beckham, Tim Burgess, and many more notable faces.
However, Ryder, who was a friend of Mounfield and honoured him on social media following his passing, was unable to attend.
The Happy Mondays frontman explained his absence to BBC Breakfast on January 6th, revealing, “I got pneumonia. We was on tour with Black Grape and me and Kermit ended up with pneumonia.”
Ryder then explained that he “had to throw everything I could down me”, explaining that he consumed “every sort of painkiller and everything else, just to get through it”.
He then detailed how his condition left him unable to attend the funeral of Mani on December 22nd, which was held at Manchester Cathedral, sharing, “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.”
Ryder then spoke about the pivotal role that antibiotics played in his recovery, sharing, “In the end, I got antibiotics, and that is like a nuclear bomb going off. So that sorted me out quite quick. I’ve only been out of bed what, four days.”
However, the Christmas period was difficult for Ryder who spent the time “rotting in bed on my own”.
At Mani’s funeral, his former Stone Roses bandmate Ian Brown delivered a heartfelt speech, telling the congregation, “Mani was like a brother to me, a musical comrade.” He also said, “Beautiful soul and spirit. Mani was able to laugh his way through any darkness. He was the life and soul of any room he was in.”
Additionally, Mani’s former Primal Scream bandmate Bobby Gillespie, also said at the service, “No-one was too important to escape his laser-eye ability to cut the pretentious and self-important down to size, myself included! His ability to make laughter out of any situation was our great value wherever we were in the world.”
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