HAPPY MONDAYS - EX-HAPPY MONDAY RYDER PRAISES LATE WILSON

EX-HAPPY MONDAY RYDER PRAISES LATE WILSON

Former HAPPY MONDAYS star PAUL RYDER has praised late British music mogul TONY WILSON for giving him a "wonderful life". The Factory Records co-founder died on Friday (10Aug07) after losing a battle with kidney cancer. And Ryder will be forever grateful to Wilson for signing Happy Mondays at a time when everybody else was criticising them. He says, "Everything I've got in my wonderful life now I owe to two people - Mr. Derek Ryder Senior, and my other dad, Anthony H. Wilson. "He took a chance on a bunch of lads in a band, gave us his faith when everyone else was telling us we were rubbish, and catapulted us with his enthusiasm into the heart of the phenomenon that was, and to some extend still is, Madchester. "The fantastic city of Manchester is the way it is today because of him, his vision, his energy and his fearlessness. To say he will be sorely missed is a serious understatement. Manchester has just lost its Patron Saint."