HAPPY Mondays star Bez is to tell stories from his extraordinary life at a Worcester theatre.
The 58-year-old, who lives in Herefordshire, will be at the city’s Huntingdon Hall on Saturday, April 29.
‘Bez in Conversation - The Nine Lives of a Happy Monday’ explores Bez’s life and career, from his upbringing in Salford to finding fame in the 90s and beyond.
The tour follows the release of Bez’s autobiography, Buzzin’, and his admission that despite his fame he is still only “two or three paychecks away from being homeless again”.
It is that honesty that is at least partially responsible for Bez’s enduring popularity.
Bez, whose real name is Mark Berry, rose to fame in the early 1990s after being dragged on stage by Happy Mondays frontman and childhood friend Shaun Ryder.
He was an instant hit with his bizarre dancing and playing the maraca.
Despite not being a singer, musician or even a very good dancer, Bez became not only the band’s mascot but an icon of the Madchester scene.
The Happy Mondays had major hits with Step On and Kinky Afro before breaking up in 1992.
They have since reformed and tour regularly.
Through Black Grape, the second band he co-fronted with Ryder, and his ever-presence in the mass media (Gogglebox, MasterChef, Celebrity Big Brother, and Dancing on Ice), Bez’s popularity has grown.
READ MORE: Happy Mondays star Bez marries in Herefordshire wedding
When he bowled into Celebrity Big Brother in 2005, he ended up winning the series, with viewers taken in by what his publicists call his “fundamental decency and sunny outlook”.
Bez’s adult life has been full of unbelievable scrapes with mortality, periods of financial ruin, and narcotic-strewn hi-jinks.
His show in Worcester promises the story of a bad lad who has turned his life good, tracing his passage from twenty and thirty-something casualty to middle-aged politician, eco-warrior, and bee-aficionado.
Bez’s life appears to have calmed down somewhat from those heady days in Manchester with the Mondays.
Now living in the picturesque Golden Valley, Bez married Firouzeh Razavi in September.
He’s a regular on Channel 4’s Googlebox and even stood as a candidate in the 2015 general election.
Bez has been spotted a few times around Herefordshire but generally keeps a low profile in the county.
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