Shaun Ryder blames stage fright for drug addiction
Shaun Ryder has blamed his incredibly shy nature for the drug demons that plagued him throughout his career.
The former Happy Mondays and Black Grape frontman spent more than a decade of his life fighting addictions to heroin and crack cocaine, and now he's revealed he first got hooked on drugs in a bid to conquer his crippling stage fright.
Ryfer, who released his memoirs this month, tells the BBC: "I don't mind attention writing a book but the frontman thing was a bit of a bad idea. It's a different sort of attention. For someone who is quite shy, being the frontman of a rock 'n' roll band is not really a good idea. I enjoyed it but it was still difficult."
Asked how he coped with the fear of performing in front of an audience of thousands, Ryder replies, "Drink and drugs."
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