White Rabbit nets ‘completely mad and brilliant’ memoir by Happy Mondays star Bez 

White Rabbit has acquired a “completely mad and utterly brilliant” memoir from Mark Berry, best known as Bez from the Happy Mondays.

The deal for world rights, excluding the USA and Canada, was struck by publishing director Lee Brackstone with Natalie Galustian from Greyhound Literary. Buzzin’ will be published in October 2022.

The publisher’s synopsis reads: “At the height of his initial, turn-of-the-1990’s infamy as the maraca-wielding dancer with ’Madchester’ giants Happy Mondays, Mark Berry – forever known to the world as Bez – was visibly a danger to society. He became the so-called Chemical Generation’s bug-eyed pied piper, every weekend leading millions out to oblivion and beyond, as they adopted his E-gobbling party lifestyle".

It went on: “When he bowled into ’Celebrity Big Brother’ in 2005, he ended up winning the series, as viewers came to understand his fundamental decency and sunny outlook. His adult life has been extraordinary: unbelievable scrapes with mortality, periods of financial ruin, mindfuck moments like when David Bowie genuflected before him, and enough narcotic-strewn hi-jinx to fill several more volumes of memoir.

“Written with the assistance of estimable rock and roll ghostwriter, Andrew Perry (John Lydon, Tricky), this is the story of a bad lad who has turned his life good, tracing his passage from early-thirty-something casualty to middle-aged politician, eco-warrior and bee-aficionado.”

Bez said: “I’m well happy to unveil the full, unexpurgated truth behind my life story so far. It’s a 24 hours party between two book covers! Like the title says, I’m totally buzzin’ to get it out there for everyone to read.”

Brackstone added: “For a non-musician, Bez’s influence on pop culture has been immeasurable. First in the Happy Mondays, then Black Grape, and later on TV, in politics, and bee-keeping, Bez is a true rock and roll revolutionary and the very embodiment of acid house. Buzzin’ simply has to be true because the stories in it are too wild and improbable to exist as fiction. All Hail The Lord of the Dance, Mark Berry… and welcome to White Rabbit.”