Ian Brown

Brown's music career began in 1980, playing bass guitar in a band with John Squire and Simon Wolstencroft.[11] They eventually became the Patrol, with Andy Couzens on vocals. The band soon split up, with Brown selling his bass to buy a scooter.[12] Brown moved to Hulme and attended Northern soul "all-nighters" across Northern England in the early 1980s as the scene faded. Around this time, Brown met soul legend Geno Washington, who told him, "You should be a star."[13] In 1983, Brown joined the Waterfront, the band that would evolve into the Stone Roses, as co-vocalist.[14]

The Stone Roses rose to prominence in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with their debut album voted the best British album of all time in 2004.[15] The band's second album, Second Coming, received a mixed reaction, and after several changes of line-up, the band split up in October 1996.

On 17 October 2011, Brown alluded to a Stone Roses reunion via text message, saying, "We are going to rule the world again. It's happening."[16] On the following day, a reunion was announced for the band with performances planned for June 2012 in Manchester.[17][18] In a press conference interview, the members of the Stone Roses have said that a new album is planned.[19]

On 2 December 2011, Ian Brown and John Squire performed together live for the first time since 1995. They joined Mick Jones from The Clash, The Farm, and Pete Wylie at the Manchester Ritz in a concert in aid of the Justice for Hillsborough campaign. They performed "Elizabeth My Dear" as a duo before being joined by Mick Jones and The Farm for renditions of the Clash's "Bankrobber" and "Armagideon Time", with Ian Brown taking on lead vocals for the three songs.

The Stone Roses reunited in 2011 and went on a reunion tour in 2012. They continued to tour until 2017 when the band disbanded for a second time.

After a break from music in Morocco, Brown established his solo career with the debut solo single "My Star", which was released in the UK on 12 January 1998.[20] The debut album Unfinished Monkey Business followed on 2 February 1998. The album was produced and financed by Brown and featured ex-Roses members Mani, Nigel Ipinson, Aziz Ibrahim, and Robbie Maddix.[21] The album sold over 300,000 copies.[22]

Brown toured in summer 1998 with a band that included Aziz Ibrahim (guitar), Inder "Goldfinger" Matharu (tabla/percussion), Simon Moore (drums), and Sylvan Richardson (bass), including performances at the Glastonbury Festival and the V Festival.[23] Brown was arrested after a flight back from his live show in Paris and later sentenced to four months in prison for using threatening behaviour towards an airline stewardess and captain, a charge he denied, causing his tour to be rescheduled.[24][25] His bandmate Aziz Ibrahim condemned the sentence, saying that Brown was "just being cheeky".[26] He had threatened to cut off the hands of the stewardess and hammered on the cockpit door, as the plane came in to land.[27] A few weeks before, he had threatened a magazine critic, who had given his album a one-star review, to a "good kicking".[27]

While in Strangeways Prison, Brown wrote the lyrics for "Free My Way", "So Many Soldiers", and "Set My Baby Free".[28] He was released on parole after two months.

His second album, Golden Greats, was released by Polydor Records in 1999. It featured more electronic instrumentation and earned critical acclaim. For his third studio album, Music of the Spheres, Brown sought outside production help for the first time, hiring the services of songwriter and producer Dave McCracken, who would go on to become a regular collaborator. He toured the US for the first time as a solo artist in support of the album.[29]

Brown's fourth solo album, Solarized, was released in the UK on 13 September 2004 and was the first to be released under the revived Polydor imprint Fiction Records. When his new Fiction A&R Jim Chancellor was asked in HitQuarters what contribution he makes to Brown's records, he said, "There's not as much to do. Ian is very much the master of his own records."[30]

Since the break-up of the Stone Roses in 1996, Brown has released six solo albums and fourteen UK Top 40 singles.[31] He has sold out seven UK tours and appeared three times at the Glastonbury Festival, including headlining the Other Stage in 2005.[32] He has appeared five times at V Festival since 1998, along with regular appearances at T in the Park and Oxegen festivals, and played the Move festival in 2002 at Old Trafford Cricket Ground[33] as well as two tours of Australia in 2006 and 2008.

Ian Brown at the Witnness festival in Ireland in 2002

At the 2006 NME awards, Brown was presented with the "Godlike Genius" award and in 2007, was given the Q "Legend" Award.[34][35]

In September 2007, Brown released his fifth studio album, The World Is Yours. The album represented a more political approach in his music, particularly the anti-war track "Illegal Attacks", which featured Sinéad O'Connor. The album also featured former Smiths bassist Andy Rourke, Paul Ryder of Happy Mondays,[36] and Steve Jones and Paul Cook of The Sex Pistols.

My Way, his sixth solo album, was released in September 2009.[37] It was recorded at London's Battery Studios with producer Dave McCracken; the first single, "Stellify", was released 21 September 2009. Brown played Manchester Arena for the third time in December 2009 and in 2010, made his third appearance in Moscow and second in Beijing, China. Since turning solo in 1998, Brown has played shows in 45 countries.

Brown has collaborated several times with UNKLE, appearing on "Be There" in 1999 and on "Reign" on the 2003 album Never, Never, Land, which was also released as a single.[38]

On 25 October 2018, he released his first solo material in nine years with the single "First World Problems". His seventh studio album, Ripples, was then released on 1 February 2019.

On 18 September 2020, Brown announced the release of new song "Little Seed, Big Tree" through his Twitter account. The song appears to refer to the COVID-19 pandemic, and express anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine sentiment.[39] Brown later complained that it was taken off Spotify. A Spotify spokesman stated that the platform "prohibits content on the platform which promotes dangerous false, deceptive, or misleading content about COVID-19".[40]

In September 2022 he made the first appearance of a UK tour, with a sold-out performance in Leeds. His use of a backing tracks in place of a live band was met with a negative reaction by some attendees.[41][42]

In October 1998, Brown was arrested and sentenced to four months in jail for threatening a British Airways attendant on a flight to Manchester from Paris. He spent two months in jail.[48][49] In June 2005, Brown was arrested in San Francisco after an altercation with a fan who tackled Brown on stage. However, no charges were pressed against Brown.[50][51] In 2011, Brown was given a driving ban following three speeding violations. He was fined over £1,900.[52]

Brown believes in God, but does not subscribe to any organized religion.[53]

During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, Brown promoted conspiracy theories[54] and misinformation about the pandemic,[55][56] and criticised lockdowns, the use of masks and the COVID-19 vaccine.[57] In July 2021, Brown received a two-week Twitter ban for posting false claims that the vaccine was not effective. He pulled out of a festival headline slot as he disagreed with its vaccine passport for entry policy, calling it the "new nazi normal".[55] His anti-lockdown song "Little Seed, Big Tree", which featured lyrics alluding to conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccine,[58] was taken down from Spotify.[40]