Bez (dancer)

Career

Mark "Bez" Berry was born on 18 April 1964, in Bolton, Lancashire, England. He grew up in Bolton and Little Hulton, Salford, before moving to live with his grandparents in Wigan at the age of 16. He is the son of a police detective inspector. He was a maraca player, dancer and the mascot of Salford alternative rock band Happy Mondays, having been invited in by lead singer Shaun Ryder shortly after the band was formed. He is chiefly remembered for his bizarre style of dancing, and use of the maracas. The band's second single was called "Freaky Dancin'", and was rumoured to be a tribute to Bez. However, Happy Mondays' singer Shaun Ryder stated that this was not the case in his autobiography "Twistin My Melon".

After the Happy Mondays broke up, Bez became a member of Black Grape, a group founded by Mondays band member Shaun Ryder, but he left them in 1997. In 1997, he had a feature on the BBC Two television programme The Sunday Show called Science with Bez. When both faced large tax bills, he and Ryder reconciled and reformed the Happy Mondays in 1998, but this was short-lived.

A book about his experiences in both bands, Freaky Dancin' (ISBN 0-330-48197-5), was published by Pan MacMillan in 1998. In the opening chapter Bez detailed an incident during a Happy Mondays gig at Manchester's The Haçienda nightclub in 1986. In the middle of the set he fell off the stage and cut his forehead. In the book he writes: "The doc tells me to take it easy and put my feet up. I thought, 'I'm not fucking havin' that'. I got some of [lead guitarist] Moose's acid, dripped it in the cut and ran back out with me shakers. Fuckin' raz!"

He appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2005, in order to pay off his outstanding tax bills, and was voted as the winner of the series. He was formally bankrupt at the time under his real name. He used some of his winnings to improve the engine of his London black cab; the television show Pimp My Ride UK customised it to make it suit him. After the cab was "pimped", it had twenty speakers, eight amps, two DVD players, fifteen TV screens and a camera on the grille linked to one of the screens, the sign saying TAXI on the top was changed to PIMP, and it had purple paint on the outside.

The New Musical Express (NME) carried a series of articles about famous members of bands whose musical contribution to their bandmates' success was negligible. The newspaper used the name "Bez" as a generic label for the likes of Chas Smash of Madness, Andrew Ridgeley of Wham!, Paul Morley of Art of Noise, Linda McCartney of Wings, and Paul Rutherford of Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

Bez lived for some time next to Shaun Ryder in Padfield, Derbyshire, and in 2006 was promoting a compilation album titled Bez's Madchester Anthems: Sorted Tunes from Back in the Day.

The Happy Mondays again reformed: the third incarnation of the group had Bez touring with them. On 2 July 2007, they released their first studio album in 15 years entitled Uncle Dysfunktional.

On 4 September 2007, Bez went head-to-head with royal correspondent James Whitaker on ITV television programme Don't Call Me Stupid and beat him. Bez and James taught each other about their respective specialist subjects: the Manchester music scene and royal etiquette, and then they were quizzed on what they had learnt. This was followed by a general knowledge round. Despite not knowing that the Queen has two birthdays, Bez still managed to win. His prize, as selected by James, was a bottle of posh red wine and a decanter so he didn't have to drink any cheap "poor person's" supermarket plonk.

Bez was again declared bankrupt on 31 March 2008.

He took part in Series 4 of Adrenaline Junkie (aired on 1 October 2008 on ITV2), the tasks involved taking on the world's biggest bungee down the front of the dam which featured in GoldenEye, building an ice hotel in the mountains, and undertook a jump from one cable car to another.

On 29 January 2012, Shaun Ryder announced on the radio station XFM that the band would return with the original and definitive line-up of himself, his brother Paul Ryder on bass, Bez, Gary Whelan on drums, Rowetta as backing vocalist, Mark Day on guitar and Paul Davis on keyboards. They appeared on ITV's This Morning, and were interviewed by Phillip Schofield. The band announced in September 2012 that they were writing their first album with the original line-up in more than 20 years.

He was announced as the headliner on the DJ stage at upcoming festival Party In the Pines near Scunthorpe and Broughton on 3 May 2014.

In March 2014, Bez announced his intention to stand as a candidate for the Salford and Eccles constituency in the 2015 UK General Election. The incumbent Member of Parliament, Hazel Blears, announced her intention to stand down at the election. Bez ran on a platform of "free energy, free food and free anything". He received 703 votes (1.6% of the total turnout) which placed him in sixth position in the constituency. The seat was won by the new Labour Party candidate, Rebecca Long-Bailey, who received 21,364 votes (49.4% of the total).

Assault

In August 2010, Bez was convicted of physically assaulting his ex-girlfriend Monica Ward, with whom he has a son, by throttling and threatening to kill her. He was sentenced to four weeks in prison after having first received a community service sentence but refusing to co-operate. He was arrested at Euston Station in London in November 2010 for breaching a restraining order granted to Ward following the prior assault, and escorted back to the North West to appear before magistrates in Manchester.

Personal life

Berry currently resides in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, four miles from Manchester city centre. He used to be a fan of Manchester United F.C., but became disenchanted following the Glazier takeover.

Bez also keeps bees, brews beer, and has lived on land-shares in Wales and Herefordshire.

In November 2014, Bez became a patron of homeless organisation Coffee4Craig. The organisation started in 2013 when married couple Risha and Fie Lancaster lost Risha's brother, Craig White, to a heroin overdose while sleeping rough. He is very active in his support, even inviting the women to join him on the bed in London, on stage during a recent Black Grape gig and frequently discussing the issue of homelessness.

Fictional portrayal

In the film 24 Hour Party People, named after the Happy Mondays song, Bez is played by Chris Coghill.