Overview
- The Happy Mondays frontman said he and Black Grape bandmate Kermit contracted pneumonia as their tour ended on December 20.
- Ryder said he collapsed the day before Gary “Mani” Mounfield’s December 22 funeral and could not attend the service.
- He recounted spending most of Christmas in bed and said he had been up only four days by the time of his BBC Breakfast appearance.
- Ryder appeared on the programme with Bez to promote a 35th‑anniversary tour for Pills ’N’ Thrills And Bellyaches that is scheduled to start in March.
- Mounfield, the Stone Roses and Primal Scream bassist, died in November at 63, and his Manchester Cathedral funeral drew prominent figures from music and football.