by Khilen Mehta

Ian Brown, the former lead singer of hit band The Stone Roses, will be performing solo this Friday at Joy Eslava. Even through an rollercoaster career, public spats with celebrities and a jail sentence for air rage, Brown still remains one of the most influential artists of his generation. Since the band’s acrimonious and prolonged break up in 1996, Brown has released five solo albums. He has appeared on several club tours and has performed at the Glastonbury festival three times since 1998 and this will be his first performance in Madrid.

Ian Brown was born in Warrington, Manchester in 1963 and his active music interests were inspired by the great Manchester bands of the time, such as Slaughter and the Dogs, and of course Joy Division. He shared his interests with his friend John Squire, who later become another infamous member of the Stone Roses. Brown joined Squire’s band The Patrol on tour as a bassist before they grouped together to form the Stone Roses. This decision was influenced by a meeting with Geno Washington, a soul legend and a personal hero of Brown’s, who told him, “You’re a star. You’re an actor. Be a singer.”

Life hasn’t always been plain sailing for Brown. Brown has had no contact with his former song writing partner and childhood best friend John Squire since the band broke up in 1996. Brown’s key reason for the band not reforming is his lack of contact with Squire along with Squire’s cocaine abuse and their differing musical tastes. In September 2005, Ian appeared to rule out a Stone Roses reunion saying “there’s more chance of me reforming the Happy Mondays than the Roses” and in June 2007 John Squire said he wouldn’t reform the Roses even if Ian Brown phoned him up personally. Brown has also had many run-ins with the law. In 1998, he was sentenced to 4 months in jail after threatening to cut off an air stewardess hands with plastic cutlery on a flight.

One thing cannot be denied, though, and that is Ian Brown still attracts the crowds. He undertook a sell out UK tour in 2005, even managing to sell out the 16,000 capacity Manchester Evening News Arena and this gig in Madrid is guaranteed to be huge.

Ignore the hype, the publicity and the rumours… It is his delivery of lyrics, his charisma and presence on stage that make him stand out. as one of the greatest artists of his generation.