Allen & Unwin snaps up Ryder's 'sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll' memoir

Allen & Unwin to publish How to be a Rock Star by Shaun Ryder, a memoir that promises to lift the lid on what it's like to be a rock star.

As lead singer of Happy Mondays and Black Grape, Ryder led two bands, had number one albums, headlined Glastonbury, and toured the world numerous times. The memoir explores his life as a musician, experiencing the "rock 'n' roll dream". Ryder is working with his co-writer Luke Bainbridge, who also worked on Ryder's his autobiography Twisting My Melon (Corgi).

The synopsis states: "Now, for the first time, Shaun lifts the lid on the real inside story of how to be a rock star. With insights from three decades touring the world, which took him from Salford to San Francisco, from playing working men’s clubs to headlining Glastonbury and playing in front of the biggest festival crowd the world has ever seen, in Brazil, in the middle of a thunderstorm. From recording your first demo tape to having a number one album, Shaun gives a fly-on-the-wall look at the rock 'n' roll lifestyle — warts and all: how to be a rock star — and how not to be a rock star.

"From numerous 'Top of the Pops' appearances to being banned from live TV, from being a figurehead of the acid-house scene to finding himself in rehab, Shaun has seen it all. In this book he pulls the curtain back on the debauchery of the tour bus, ridiculous riders, run-ins with record companies, drug dealers and the Mafia, and how he forged the most remarkable comeback of all time."

Allen & Unwin has acquired world rights in all languages to How to be a Rock Star and will publish in hardback and trade paperback in October 2021. Publisher Ed Faulkner bought the rights from Matthew Hamilton at The Hamilton Agency.

 Ryder has been the subject of several films, was runner-up on "I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here" and is a star of "Celebrity Gogglebox". 

Faulkner, publisher at the Atlantic imprint, said: “Having grown up listening to the Happy Mondays and Black Grape I can’t think of anyone better or funnier than the legendary Shaun Ryder to lift the lid on what it is really like to be a rock star. How to be a Rock Star is a hilarious, swaggering, hugely entertaining book full of classic rock ’n’ roll anecdotes and stories from a bone fide rock legend. We can’t wait to publish it.”

Ryder commented: “I’ve been the lead singer of two of Britain’s greatest rock’n’roll groups of the last 30 years, and in that time I’ve seen everything, from the biggest highs to the lowest lows. I’ve lived the sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll dream, and the nightmare. In How To Be A Rock Star, I’ll tell you the truth about some of the Mondays and Black Grape myths, from the early days of the Hacienda, to me and Bez having guns pulled on us while buying crack in the New York, to hanging out backstage with the Rolling Stones, what it’s really like to work in the studio with members of the Velvet Underground, New Order and Talking Heads, and why it’s bollocks that Happy Mondays caused Factory Records to go bankrupt. I’ll also tell you how I managed to come out the other side and become a TV celebrity, how my life’s changed, and what advice I’d tell the 20-year-old Shaun Ryder if I met him now.”