Shaun Ryder believes he’s only “got 10 years left” to live.
Shaun Ryder doesn’t think he’s got long left to live
The 61-year-old Happy Mondays frontman – who has battled addiction issues and has had a number of health problems in recent years, including alopecia, arthritis and an underactive thyroid – admitted he ought to start thinking about arrangements for his funeral because the life span of other men in his family suggests he’s getting towards the end of his life.
Shaun – whose brother and bandmate Paul Ryder died in 2022 aged 58 – told Britain’s OK! magazine: “I’ve got 10 years left, maybe 15, so I should be thinking about it. My dad was dead by 74 and our kid is already dead.
“I’ve been to a few funerals lately.”
The ‘Loose Fit’ hitmaker is set to appear in new TV show ‘Celebrity Send Off’, where famous faces plan their loved one’s funeral, with Shaun’s arrangements being made by his friend and bandmate Bez.
But the ‘Celebrity Gogglebox’ star admitted he had never thought about the topic before the programme and didn’t even have a will.
He said: “I don’t know if I’d have a quiet one or a party. I’ve never even thought about having a funeral or dying!”
On the programme, Bez plans a UFO-themed send-off, including a service filled with spaceship-shaped flowers and then a ceremony to blast Shaun’s ashes into space by strapping them to fireworks, ending the celebration of his pal’s life with a rave.
Shaun said of his friend’s plan: “I wouldn’t mind going up into the sky like a UFO – but I want to be buried. I’m not getting cremated.”
The theme was a nod to the ‘Step On’ singer’s claim to have been visited by UFOs numerous times since he was a teenager, most recently just a few years ago.
He said: “I woke up one morning, about seven, and I looked out of the window and there was a UFO by our apple tree.
“I could have been hallucinating but I hadn’t taken any drugs! It looked like a giant Airfix model.
“Since I was 15, they haven’t left me alone. It might be because I’m neurodivergent – I’ve got ADHD.”
