Black Grape are an English rock band, featuring former members of Happy Mondays and Ruthless Rap Assassins. Their musical style fuses funk and electronic rock with electronic programming and samples.
The band was formed in 1993 by former Happy Mondays members Shaun Ryder and Bez. It was Ryder’s first musical project after the disintegration of Happy Mondays due both to his multiple drug addictions and to disagreements about revenues with other band members. The formation of the new band was intended to draw a line between his past life and his new one. Ryder and Bez recruited rappers Paul “Kermit” Leveridge and Carl “Psycho” McCarthy, drummer Ged Lynch (like Leveridge, a former member of Ruthless Rap Assassins), and guitarist Wags (formerly of the Manchester-based group the Paris Angels) and Oli “Dirtycash” Dillon on ocarina. Recording of new material started that year, although the group was not under contract.
In 1995, Black Grape was signed by Radioactive Records (an imprint of major label BMG) and released its debut album It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah. The album debuted at number one in the UK Albums Chart, and spawned three top 20 singles. The album was certified platinum in the UK in April 1996.
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