Ian Brown Biography
Written by Regan Tyndall

Ian Brown is a singer, songwriter and performer on the UK’s Fiction (Polydor) label, for which he has released five LPs and a number of singles since 1998. He was formerly the lead singer for The Stone Roses (from 1984 to1996), one of the most influential British bands of all time.

Ian George Brown was born in the Greater Manchester area of England on February 20 th, 1963, to a working class family. Growing up on SylvanAvenue, Timperley, Cheshire, his neighbours included the Squire family, whose son John encountered Ian when both were around four years old, though they did not become close friends until their early teens. By most accounts, Ian Brown was a gregarious, active, and outgoing young man, while his friend John Squire was artistic, shy, and withdrawn. Together in secondary school (and at Grammar school), Ian and John bonded over punk rock, which Ian introduced John to. While John Squire painstakingly practised his guitar from his early teens, Ian’s musical activity in the late 1970s was attending “Northern Soul” clubs in Manchester. His discipline was Karate, which he studied from age 11 to 18. Both John and Ian became motor-scooter owners, an interest which led to Ian’s introduction to Gary Mounfield (later known only as “Mani”). John and Mani also became acquainted, the latter learning the bass guitar and making some early attempts at music in a short-lived band called The Waterfront, with John and other local musicians.

Leaving school in the early 1980s, Ian Brown was invited by John Squire (both now living in Hulme) to join his musical projects. Ian attempted playing bass and eventually singing with a band member named “Kaiser,” in another short-lived group called The Patrol. Nothing came of it. While John Squire went to work for the Cosgrove Hall television company, Ian quit a brief job scrubbing pots to hitchhike around Europe. After a chance meeting in Germany with the friend of a Swedish concert promoter, Ian returned to England and assembled a band with his friend John Squire on guitar. Promised gigs in Sweden, the pair assembled a group comprising Ian on vocals, John on lead guitar with Andy Cousens on rhythm, and Pete Garner on bass. Lacking a drummer with the departure of Simon Wolstencroft, the young group then stumbled upon a remarkable percussionist from North Manchester named Alan Wren (eventually known only as “Reni”). Calling themselves The Stone Roses, the band members played their first gig in London at an anti-heroin benefit attended by Pete Townshend. (Townshend was mainly impressed by drummer Reni.) Eventually making it to Sweden in spring 1985, The Stone Roses played to small foreign audiences before returning to Manchester to begin the long journey to success.

From 1985 to early 1989, The Stone Roses gradually built up a loyal and devoted following of fans in Manchester. They achieved a certain degree of notoriety for their publicity stunts and after-midnight warehouse concerts, illicitly advertised on the streets by friends and associates. Radio sessions and early word-of-mouth support led to recording sessions in Manchester with Martin Hannet (producer of Joy Division and many others). Not intended for release, these tracks were not particularly liked by the band, though a local single was released independently: “So Young / Tell Me.” These early tracks (including “I Wanna Be Adored” and “This Is The One”) represent a youthful and aggressive musical attack, owing more than a little to both Goth-rock and contemporary Manchester groups like The Chameleons. Ian Brown’s vocals and lyrics were powerful, confrontational, and occasionally histrionic, with the tracks as a whole sounding nothing like the music the band would later become famous for. (These recordings became officially available in 1996 on the Garage Flower album.) Second guitarist Andy Cousens departed shortly after these sessions, leaving the group a four-piece, which it would remain.

Around 1986, John Squire and Ian Brown began writing songs together exclusively. The Stone Roses played very few concerts in 1986, and released no music at all. They were instead writing songs and altering the musical style of the band, along with its image. To this point Ian Brown had appeared onstage looking lean and sharp with slicked back hair, challenging and confronting members of the audience. As the Roses image loosened up, so did the music, with loftier vocal and guitar melodies now taking precedence over the ever-driving rhythms. “Sally Cinnamon” is for many the band’s first brilliant track, a total reversal of what had come before. By 1987, this song and others equally tuneful such as “Elephant Stone,” “Sugar Spun Sister,” and “Where Angels Play” brought the group an increased following, and a new manager – Gareth Evans – who ran the International I and International II clubs in Manchester, at which the Stone Roses became fixtures. The 1987 release of “Sally Cinnamon” was again on an independent label, selling out in Manchester but failing to gain a national audience.

The final piece of the Roses’ puzzle was at last assembled in late 1987, as bassist Pete Garner departed, replaced by Squire and Brown’s old friend Mani. New songs like “Waterfall” and “She Bangs The Drums” showcased a period of songwriting mastery that has rarely been equalled in British music. Ian Brown’s vocal style had changed to a softer and more tuneful approach, recalling a choir boy, but one who often sang lyrics of bitter spite and/or devotional love, mixed in with numerous Biblical images and references. Reni’s rhythms locked in with Mani’s funky bass playing to create a unique and highly danceable sound. John Squire’s guitar work had greatly improved and he was approaching Reni’s level of technical mastery of his instrument. Reni was by now doubly efficient, singing back-up vocals while drumming furiously.

Finally, in early 1988, The Stone Roses signed a long-term record deal with the independent label Silvertone (owned by Jive). Thus began two years of unparalleled brilliance in releases, which still casts a long shadow over the UK music scene. “Elephant Stone” was the first Silvertone record, failing again to chart, but receiving favourable press and becoming a sizeable hit on the independent charts. Entering studios in London and Wales to record a debut album with John Leckie producing, The Stone Roses hit their stride, creating a classic. “Made Of Stone” was released as an advance single, finally making the UK national charts, though barely. In early 1989, the band was playing to a dozen fans in London; ten months later they would easily sell out Alexandra Palace (capacity 8,000).

The Stone Roses , released in spring 1989, is for many fans one of the great rock albums of all time. Something approaching perfection was achieved in the balanced performance by the four musicians, with Leckie’s production providing a warm and organic sound. The record would reach no higher than 19 on the UK charts, but its sales curve would never drop off completely (it returned to the top 40 in the late 1990s, and finally hit the top 10 on DVD release in 2004!). Its influence was immeasurable. Almost overnight, the UK music scene was overhauled by The Stone Roses’ influence, along with that of their northern peers like Happy Mondays. It was an exciting time, with new bands emerging suddenly – many from Manchester – and all of them seemingly imitating, to greater or lesser extents, The Stone Roses. The Stone Roses was entirely composed by John Squire and Ian Brown, beginning with the memorable bass line of “I Wanna Be Adored,” and ending with the unsurpassable “I Am The Resurrection.” It brought the band members instant celebrity, their faces becoming staples of the UK music press. As the “face” of the Roses, Ian Brown was in some sense the defining image of the Manchester music scene that swept the nation.

Following tours of Europe and Japan, the band played the Alexandra Palace show in London (November 1989) on the heels of “Fools Gold,” a masterful synthesis of rock and funk that broke into the UK top 10 and was the biggest selling independent single of 1989. At this point, the Roses became something of a phenomenon, as singles were re-released and their image and style co-opted by the mainstream media. Editors of New Musical Express (NME) awarded them band of the year, album of the year, and three of the year’s top five singles. The band members relaxed before a return to live shows in spring 1990. A single advertisement in the NME led to around 35,000 tickets sold for the group’s concert at Spike Island, Widnes. Two weeks later, they played an amazing show to 8,000 Scottish fans in Glasgow, revered as perhaps their greatest ever gig by the hardcore fan base . The single “One Love” was released and hit number 4 on the UK chart.

In about 16 months, The Stone Roses had altered the face of British rock permanently, helping to symbolically end the dreaded 1980s. After their success, UK rock groups—whether on independent labels or majors, whether from London or otherwise—would be judged by their success in the mainstream market. Just as they had blended the DIY attitude of punk rock with the peaceful vibe and aesthetic of the late 1960s, so the Roses had blurred the boundary between rock, pop, and dance, between indie-rock and clubs, between alternative music and the mainstream. The biggest UK groups of the 1990s—Oasis, Blur, The Verve, The Charlatans, as well as diverse acts like Orbital, The Chemical Brothers, Garbage, and Texas—started their groups and created music following the Roses’ influence. The rock mega-groups (such as U2, whose Achtung Baby owes some of its influence to the Roses) took notice, while the American market was opening up to them. In short, the world was at their feet. The Stone Roses, however, would unfortunately do next to nothing over the next few years.

No records were released, no performances given, no press photos taken, and no interviews conducted, between mid-1990 and the fall of 1994. The poor terms of their Silvertone contract led to the Roses breaking free of the label, and quickly being signed to major American label Geffen Records for undisclosed amounts of money (Ian Brown was seen handing out money to the homeless in Manchester). Problems with manager Gareth Evans (soon fired), band members growing apart socially (Squire eventually moving far away from the others), babies being born, lawsuits and litigation amassing, and holidays in Europe distracted the Roses and slowed down their attempts to record a second album. Producer John Leckie quit the sessions in frustration. Worst of all was the breakdown in the songwriting partnership of John and Ian. John Squire began writing on his own, and his new songs revealed a more direct influence from classic rock of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Reni’s attendance at recording sessions decreased, which was a sign of things to come. Ian Brown later stated that, in frustration, he had attempted to quit the group in 1993, only to be talked back into it by the others. Finally, Geffen put its foot down, and the LP was completed by the fall of 1994, with the title Second Coming revealed to the world’s press.

The single “Love Spreads” entered the UK chart at number 2 in November. Strangely, the Roses released the LP in the Christmas market rush, where, although a big seller overall (number 4 on the chart), it was undervalued. Times had changed, with the UK press now championing Oasis and Blur, two groups who might not have existed without the Roses. The new record was heavier and darker than the earlier material, and very uncompromising, opening with the eleven-minute “Breaking Into Heaven.” John Squire clearly dominated, his guitar overdubs somewhat swamping the rest of the band. Ian Brown’s vocals now struggled to emerge from the sonic strength of the powerful new sound. The album’s textures were much more diverse than the debut, and accordingly tracks like “Ten Storey Love Song,” “Daybreak,” “Tightrope” and the straight blues-rocker “Good Times” featured Ian’s voice at its best. Ian wrote only one track on his own, the funky “Straight To The Man,” though he also contributed the excellent lyrics to “Daybreak” and “Begging You.”

A series of mishaps began occurring . Live gigs in secret locations were cancelled when the details were released to the press. Disaster then struck in spring 1995, as drummer Reni announced his departure only days before the world tour began. This was a mortal blow that the band would not recover from. Robbie Maddix of Manchester was brought in as a replacement. John and Ian had by now drifted apart socially as well as professionally. When the Roses finally hit the stage in Oslo, Norway in April 1995 (four months after the album and five years after the previous show in Glasgow), it was clear that they were under-rehearsed, with five years of rust. Much of the blame was directed at Ian, whose vocals were poor and who sometimes appeared disinterested in the whole affair of touring. A darkness seemed to have settled over the band. The Roses finally toured the USA in May, with the latter shows in California finally being up to former standards. They appeared ready for a triumphant comeback headlining the UK’s Glastonbury Festival, when John Squire fell off his mountain bike and injured his arm. UK and Japanese dates were subsequently postponed. The Roses got their act together for their autumn tours of Australia and Japan, which were well-received, and played some equally stunning shows in England in December 1995. However, the die had been cast and John Squire quit the group in April 1996. Ian and Mani recruited Aziz Ibrahim as a replacement, and soldiered on with shows in Europe, before returning to play the Reading Festival in August 1996. The terrible reviews and generally negative reaction from the fan base convinced Ian Brown to put an end to the band he had started twelve years earlier. Clearly embittered by his experiences, Ian, in a press release, thanked the people of Manchester for helping the Roses, while calling the music industry “the filthiest business in the universe.” The Stone Roses were no more.

By 1997, John Squire had emerged with the commercially successful Seahorses, while Mani had opted to take up bass duties in Primal Scream. Ian Brown was silent. But in late 1997, the music world learned that he was preparing a comeback as a solo artist. Fans were relieved simply to see Ian, now 34 years old and looking as fit and positive as ever. Ian had teamed up with Aziz Ibrahim for a handful of songs, written others on his own, and collaborated with musicians such as Nigel Ipinson (keyboard player for the Roses in late 1995) and drummer Simon Moore to produce a very “lo-fi” album. He had signed a deal with Polydor in the UK because the label had promised to leave his creations in the raw. In January, Polydor’s support of Ian paid off when “My Star” was released as a single and quickly scaled the charts to number 5. The record’s lyrics concerned the exploitation of space exploration for military purposes, but sounded warm and reassuring with Ian promising, “I’ll see you in my star” in the choruses. Unfinished Monkey Business followed, entering the UK chart at number 4 and proving Ian a survivor. He had taken control of the record, writing or co-writing all but one track, playing all the music on five others and dabbling in an assortment of instruments throughout, while producing and mixing everything. Second single “Corpses” is for many fans Ian’s greatest moment, its hushed tones sustained by the magical guitar playing of Aziz, with Ian’s harmonica solo and menacing vocal suiting perfectly the song’s vitriolic nature. (It’s title quotes Raoul Vaneigem, while “Under The Paving Stones: The Beach” also borrows a Situationist slogan popular in the Paris 1968 uprisings, which was itself referenced by the Stone Roses on the track “Bye Bye Badman.”) Next into the singles chart was “Can’t See Me” (released in two versions – the Bacon & Quarmby remix being slightly superior to the LP version), a danceable track that owed its inspiration, perhaps, to The Stone Roses’ “Fools Gold.” The track began with a bass riff recorded by Mani in the Second Coming session, with Ian building it up and into a standout song. Other tracks, including “What Happened To Ya” and “Deep Pile Dreams,” appeared to treat—with some bitterness—the upheavals Ian had experienced in the previous few years, not least the departure of his former best friend John Squire.

Though slightly left-of-center and decidedly lo-fi for some tastes, Unfinished Monkey Business had convinced critics that Ian had been as much the cog of his former band’s success as any member. With strong support for the album, Ian played a select number of live shows with his band, including large summer festivals at Glastonbury and V98. A tour of the UK was planned and booked, but cancelled due to Ian’s brief sentencing in prison! (He had been convicted of threatening a stewardess on British Airways the previous spring – an accusation he denies to this day). Spending only a few weeks behind bars, Ian was released just in time for Christmas, embittered again but also inspired by the new songs he was working on.

A preview of Ian’s new musical direction came in early 1999 with a track called “Be There” released as a single by James Lavelle’s UNKLE, and “featuring Ian Brown.” Ian had been given a reworking of “Unreal” off of the Psyence Fiction album and added a new melody and lyric. The ambient, atmospheric track was a winner and hit number 8 in the UK chart. (Ian and UNKLE would collaborate again in 2004 with the track “R.E.I.G.N.,” available on UNKLE’s Never Never Land.)

Working with some new collaborators, including programmer/composer Dave McCracken and proto-Roses drummer Simon Wolstencroft , Ian recorded the album Golden Greats for release in late 1999. The LP was preceded by the single “Love Like A Fountain,” a clear indication that the organic and lo-fi sounds of the previous record had changed to digital and hi-fi. “Love Like A Fountain” was an infectious blend of acid house and funky pop that owed a bit of its inspiration, perhaps, to Stevie Wonder’s classic hit “Superstition” from 1972. Its simple but effective lyric appeared to be either of spiritual devotion, or romantic, or both. The album was very well-received, with several reviewers calling it Ian’s best work since the 1980s. His voice sounded comfortable amongst the electronic flourishes. A second single proved that Ian’s maverick and idiosyncratic tendencies had not left him—“Dolphins Were Monkeys” and its B-side, a cover of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” was one of the oddest records Ian had attached his name to, and one of the most popular. It flew to number 5 in the singles chart. The digital-riff heavy “Golden Gaze” (perhaps Ian’s ode to Jamaica?) later hit the UK top 30.

The tour supporting Golden Greats was a success. In December 1999, Ian married his Mexican partner Fabiola Quiroz hours before taking to the stage for a performance. By the year 2000, with John Squire and Reni out of sight and Mani in stasis with Primal Scream, Ian had clearly outperformed his former band members in their post-Roses careers. In doing so, he had exceeded expectations and was continuing to move forward with his sound, never repeating himself from record to record. Although his recordings were not being released (until 2005) in the USA, his shows in the UK and Ireland were automatic sell-outs, while he regularly toured Japan and Scandinavia to appreciative audiences.

Working more patiently and writing songs with more care than ever, Ian and his collaborators (including, by 2001, Frances Dunnery, Tim Wills, and Dave Colquhoun along with Dave McCracken) worked slowly to create the next record. Ian spoke of his desire to create a very carefully and properly crafted album. The result was the lush Music Of The Spheres, released in September of 2001, with Ian’s vocals sounding deeper and smoother than ever. The lead-off single, “F.E.A.R.,” was the clear highlight of the album, its title and lyric inspired by a game of ghetto youths wherein a given word becomes an acronym through wordplay. Ian intones fourteen different variations on the word “fear” (“Fantastic Expectations, Amazing Revelations / Final Execution and Resurrection / Free Expression As Revolution,” etc.) to great effect, over a prominent string arrangement. The track ranks among his best, and it hit the UK top 20, with the album entering the chart at number 3, a higher placing than any previous LP release including those with the Stone Roses. Other standout tracks included “Stardust,” “Northern Lights” (a rare, straightforward love song), and the spiritual “Shadow Of A Saint.” The ethereal “Whispers” was, somewhat strangely, released as the record’s second single where it barely inched into the top 40. It mattered little as the album was another success, its tour a sell-out (with memorable shows at London’s Brixton Academy), and Ian receiving the MUSO award for best single of the year (“F.E.A.R.”). Readers of New Musical Express—writers of whom had dismissed Ian and predicted his forthcoming obsolescence in 1996-97—voted Ian Brown the best solo artist of the year.

Ian then took a longer break between records than ever. In 2002 he toured in support of the Manic Street Preachers on their anniversary tour. The link between these artists was consolidated when Ian remixed (and added a vocal to) the Manics’ track “Let Robeson Sing.” Having contributed his selections to a compilation CD for the Planet Groove series, Ian then selected his favourite tracks for an Under The Influence release, both of which reveal some of his earliest and greatest inspirations. Around this time, the four Stone Roses mutually – albeit separately – agreed upon the track selections for The Very Best Of The Stone Roses (2002), coinciding with John Squire’s re-emergence as a solo artist who performed many Stone Roses songs at his first live concerts. Perhaps with these retrospective events in mind, Ian appeared live in mid-summer 2004 in Dublin, and two days later in Claremont, Surrey, where for the first time he sang a number of classic Stone Roses tracks in his live set, fronting a new-look band (including, not coincidentally, the guitarist from the Stone Roses tribute band, Fools Gold).

In the fall, Ian’s new single “Keep What Ya Got” appeared, hitting the UK top 20. A collaboration with Noel Gallagher of Oasis, the song featured a heavily processed vocal and some of the angriest lyrics yet heard from Ian. The album Solarized followed, reaching number 7 in the UK. Featuring more diverse song-styles and textures than the previous release, it is perhaps most notable stylistically for the trumpets of Groove Armada’s Tim Hutton on three tracks, including the top 20 hit “Time Is My Everything.” The anthemic “Longsight M13” celebrates Manchester, while “Upside Down” and “One Way Ticket To Paradise” address world injustices. Aziz Ibrahim collaborates with Ian on three tracks though his presence is less noticeable than before, while Darren Moss and Ian’s track “Kiss Ya Lips (No I.D.)” is one of the record’s standouts, sounding like a club favourite in the making, even as it protests the concept of government I.D. cards for UK citizens.

Solarized was released by Koch records in the United States. Ian performed a brief tour of Canada, the USA, and Mexico in spring 2005 before returning to more sold-out shows in the UK.

Few recording artists, particularly those who carve out solar careers following fame in influential bands, can sustain a commercially and artistically successful career for several years. Ian Brown is one of the music industry’s last mavericks—an original artist who truly follows his own inclinations.

Ian Brown’s Recordings (UK chart positions in parentheses)

My Star (5)

UNFINISHED MONKEY BUSINESS (4)

Corpses (14)

Can’t See Me [two versions] (21)

Be There [UNKLE featuring Ian Brown] (8)

Love Like A Fountain (23)

GOLDEN GREATS (14)

Dolphins Were Monkeys (5)

Golden Gaze (29)

Thriller / Billie Jean

[PLANET GROOVE compilation by Ian Brown]

F.E.A.R. (13)

MUSIC OF THE SPHERES (3)

Whispers (33)

[UNDER THE INFLUENCE compilation by Ian Brown]

REMIXES OF THE SPHERES (83)

R.E.I.G.N. [UNKLE featuring Ian Brown] (40)

Keep What Ya Got (18)

SOLARIZED (7)