Ian Brown: Difference between revisions

Ian George Brown (born 20 February 1963 in Warrington)^[1] is an English musician, best known as the former lead singer of the alternative rock band The Stone Roses. Since the break up of the Stone Roses he has pursued a successful solo career releasing several top 10 solo albums. His latest studio album My Way was released on 28 September 2009.

Brown was born in Warrington, England in 1963. His father, George, was a joiner and his mother Jean worked as a receptionist in a paper factory. Brown's family moved when he was young and he grew up in Timperley near Altrincham, along with his brother and sister, as a karate-obsessed admirer of Muhammad Ali, George Best and Bruce Lee. He was educated at Park Road County Primary Infant and Junior School and then Altrincham Grammar School for Boys. His interest in music was inspired by the punk movement, specifically the bands Sex Pistols, The Clash and Manchester band Slaughter & The Dogs. Brown and original The Stone Roses bassist Pete Garner attended the recording of the Clash single "Bankrobber" in Manchester as he explained in John Robb's biography of the band The Stone Roses and the Resurrection of British Pop (Ebury Books).

Brown attended northern soul "all-nighters" across the north of England in the late 1970s and early 1980s as the scene faded. Around this time, Brown met soul legend Geno Washington, who allegedly told him, "You're a star."

Following the official demise of the Stone Roses in October 1996, Brown established his solo career with the debut solo single "My Star", which was released in the UK on 12 January 1998. The debut album Unfinished Monkey Business followed on 2 February 1998. The album was produced and financed by Brown, and featured ex-Roses members Mani, Nigel Ipinson, Aziz Ibrahim and Robbie Maddix.

His second solo album Golden Greats was released by Polydor Records 1999. It featured more electronic instrumentation and earned high critical acclaim. For his third studio album Music of the Spheres Brown sought outside production help for the first time, hiring the services of songwriter and producer Dave McCracken who would go on to become a regular collaborator.

Brown's fourth solo album, Solarized, was released in the UK on 13 September 2004, and was the first to be released under the revived Polydor imprint Fiction Records. When his new Fiction A&R Jim Chancellor was asked in HitQuarters what contribution he makes to Brown's records he said, "There's not as much to do. Ian is very much the master of his own records."^[2]

Since the break up of the Stone Roses in 1996, Brown has released six solo albums and fourteen UK Top 40 singles. He has sold out six UK tours, and appeared three times at the Glastonbury Festival, including headlining The Other Stage in 2005, where he wore an Ethiopian Adidas jacket given to him by the marathon runner, Haile Gebrselassie. He has also appeared five times at V Festival since 1998, the most appearances by any artist. Brown has also regularly appeared at T in the Park and Oxegen festivals.

As a solo act, Brown has worked with many notable musicians including UNKLE (adding vocals to the instrumental album track "Unreal", for its release as the single "Be There", and also singing on the "Reign" single, released in 2004) and Oasis' Noel Gallagher. Previously, he acted as a mentor to the up-and-coming British band, South.

He has played two sell out tours in Australia, made four tours of Japan (including four appearances at Fuji Festival Japan), headlined the Rocket Festival in Hong Kong and appeared in Moscow. His song "On Track" is featured in the Russian film Paragraph 78. He has also played shows in New Zealand, Mexico City, Argentina, Chile, Thailand, Spain, France, Italy, Amsterdam, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Poland, Serbia, New York, Los Angeles, Canada, and Dubai among others. He sold out the 16,000 capacity Manchester Evening News Arena on 3 December 2005 and also sold out Brixton Academy eleven times. Brown also appeared at the 2010 Festival Internacional de Benicàssim in Spain.

In September 2005, Brown appeared to rule out a reunion of The Stone Roses, saying "there's more chance of me reforming the Happy Mondays than the Roses". Happy Mondays in fact have reformed, but yet Brown appears pessimistic about a likelihood of any reunion.

At the 2006 NME awards, Brown was presented with the "Godlike Genius" award and in 2007 was given the Q "Legend" Award.

In September 2007, Brown released his fifth studio album, The World is Yours. The album represented a more political approach in his music, particularly the anti-war single, "Illegal Attacks", featuring Sinéad O'Connor.

On 21 July 2009, Brown announced via the NME that his sixth solo album would be titled My Way; it was released on 28 September 2009. Brown explained that the album was inspired by Michael Jackson's Thriller: "'Thriller' was our blueprint. Every time we wrote a song we didn't think was strong enough, we scrapped it. We mastered it on the day that Michael Jackson died too, so I'm taking that as a good omen." My Way was recorded at London's Battery Studios with producer Dave McCracken; the first single, "Stellify", was released 21 September 2009.

Brown is reported to have been nicknamed "King Monkey" by Dodgy's drummer Mathew Priest.^[3][4]

Legend has it that the friendship between The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays, the two premier groups of the "Madchester" era, produced nicknames that each band used for the other. Ian Brown was known to the Mondays as "Mean Boy" for his intense facial expression.

On 13 June 2008, Ian was dragged from the stage by a member of the crowd whilst performing at Sheffield's Carling Academy, hitting his head on the concrete floor. He was rushed to hospital where he received 10 stitches to a head wound, but was well enough to perform at the Isle of Wight Festival the following night as a special guest for the Sex Pistols.

Starting at the age of 22^[5], Brown was heavy marijuana user untill his later years, reportedly claiming in 2005 that he only needs money for food and cannabis^[6]. Brown gave away his marijuana habit during the recording of The World Is Yours.^[7]

Brown was asked to design Adidas Superstars for the 35th anniversary in 2005 and appeared in a cameo role in the movie adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The singer became good friends with the movie's Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón, who has personally promised to direct one of Brown's future music videos. Brown took only the standard extras fee of £200 for appearing in the film.

Since the demise of the Roses, Brown has stayed in touch with some of the former members. He has performed live with bassist Mani, guitarist Aziz Ibrahim and remains friends with drummer Reni. Both Reni and Mani contributed to the track "Can't See Me" on Brown's debut album Unfinished Monkey Business. Ibrahim's contributions to Brown's back catalogue have been substantial, with the guitarist co-writing the singles "My Star" and "Corpses" among other tracks on Unfinished Monkey Business, along with songs featured on the albums Golden Greats, Solarized and The Greatest.

Brown is a supporter of Manchester United football club and Warrington Wolves Rugby League club.

Brown has won numerous awards in his career, in recognition of his work as a solo artist and his work with The Stone Roses. The awards he has won are as follow:

The Stone Roses

• 1997 The Stone Roses reached #5 in The Guardian's 100 Best Albums Ever poll
• 1998 The Stone Roses reached #4 in Q magazine's 100 Best Albums Ever poll
• 2004 The Stone Roses reached #1 in The Observer's 100 Best British Albums Ever poll
• 2006 The Stone Roses reached #1 in the NME writers 100 Best British Albums Ever poll
• 2006 The Stone Roses reached #7 in NME fans 100 Best Albums Ever poll

Solo

• 2002 Muso Awards Best Single ("Whispers")
• 2002 NME Awards Best Solo Artist
• 2006 NME Awards Godlike Genius Award
• 2007 Q Awards Legend Award
• 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009 nominated for Best British Solo Artist at the Brit Awards

Brown's work with the Stone Roses, has provided inspiration for numerous bands.^[8] Oasis frontmen Liam and Noel Gallagher have cited on numerous occasions The Stone Roses' and Ian's influence on the band. Noel has said that without The Stone Roses, Oasis would "never have happened."^{[citation needed]} He has also stated that after seeing The Stone Roses for the first time at the (now defunct) Manchester club The Haçienda, Oasis finally realised "What we want to look like"^[9] Arctic Monkeys have cited Brown as their "musical hero".^{[citation needed]} Other bands influenced by Ian Brown/The Stone Roses are The Verve, The Charlatans, Kasabian, Coldplay, Babyshambles, Klaxons, The Libertines and The Bluetones.^{[citation needed]}

Listed are chart positions for the United Kingdom.

In the UK Ian Brown as and Solo Artist and with The Stone Roses has sold over a Certified 1.7 Million Albums

• "My Star" (1998) #5
• "Corpses" (1998) #14
• "Can't See Me" (1998) #21
• "Be There" (1999) #8
• "Love Like a Fountain" (1999) #23
• "Dolphins Were Monkeys" (2000) #5
• "Golden Gaze" (2000) #29
• "F.E.A.R." (2001) #13,
• "Whispers" (2002) #33
• "Keep What Ya Got" (2004) #18
• "Reign" (2004) #40
• "Time Is My Everything" (2005) #15
• "All Ablaze" (2005) #20
• "Illegal Attacks" (2007) #16
• "Sister Rose" (2007) #87
• "Stellify" (2009) #31
• "Just Like You" (2009) #137

• Official site

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