Gary 'Mani' Mounfield, the Stone Roses and Primal Scream bassist, dies aged 63

[highplainsdem]

Source: Guardian

Gary “Mani” Mounfield, best known as a founding member and bassist of the Stone Roses, has died aged 63. The cause of death has not been shared.

His brother Greg Mounfield posted the news on Facebook: “It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to announce the sad passing of my brother.” His nephew also shared the news.

-snip-

Mani formed the band the Fireside Chaps with John Squire and Andy Couzens in Greater Manchester in the early 80s. After several name and lineup changes, including taking on Ian Brown as frontman, they became the Stone Roses and played their first official gig in October 1984.

-snip-

Produced by John Leckie, their 1989 self-titled debut steadily became one of the key fixtures of the Madchester movement, synthesising indie music with rave culture, its grooves led by Mani and drummer Alan “Reni” Wren. In 1991, then-NME critic Mary Anne Hobbs called it “the most fluent crossover album of the last decade”.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/nov/20/gary-mani-mounfield-the-stone-roses-and-primal-scream-bassist-dies-aged-63

---

That debut album is one of the greatest rock albums ever. And British rock in the '90s would have been very different without the Roses' influence on younger bands, especially Oasis.

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stone_Roses

Article on some of Mani's greatest songs: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-underrated-legacy-of-mani-through-five-songs/

RIP, Mani. Gone too soon.

[underpants]

1. I still have that CD in my car.

❤️

[highplainsdem]

3. I doubt I've often gone even a week without listening to some Stone Roses music in the last few decades.

I just noticed a post on Bluesky from science fiction writer John Scalzi (who's also a musician).

The bass line to "I Wanna Be Adored" is one of the greatest in rock and roll, period, end of story

www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...

— John Scalzi (@scalzi.com) 2025-11-21T02:29:56.076Z

And further down that thread:

One of the best debut albums ever

— John Scalzi (@scalzi.com) 2025-11-21T02:35:57.278Z

[highplainsdem]

2. Albums That Changed Music: The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses

[highplainsdem]

4. From NME:

https://www.nme.com/features/music-features/gary-mani-mounfield-stone-roses-primal-scream-obituary-3910703

His loping melodic bassline was the first thing you heard on ‘The Stone Roses’, gliding across the cosmic opening of ‘I Wanna Be Adored’, and the last thing you remembered of the record – driving the euphoric psych rock coda of ‘I Am The Resurrection’. Snaked around John Squire’s chiming guitar work, it was the winding core of The Stone Roses’ groove and the jolting heartbeat of the entire Madchester movement.

Gary “Mani” Mounfield, who died today (November 20) aged 63, held a rare place in the world of bass heroes; just as much as the melodies and the mercurial playing he supported on the band’s legendary 1989 debut album, he drafted and defined a scene with some of the most infectious and hypnotic basslines ever recorded.

Among his more silent, surly and boggle-eyed peers, the Manchester mainstay also became the amenable face of baggy and one of the most revered bassists of his generation. Going on to join Primal Scream in the wake of The Roses’ split in 1996, Mani was at the core of the group’s highly acclaimed and influential future rock rejuvenation with 1997’s ‘Vanishing Point’ and 2000’s ‘XTRMNTR’ and, having crossed from one seminal rock act to another – via a supportive-cum-disruptive role around the major recordings of Oasis – became a much-loved, era-straddling figure at the core of ‘90s music and beyond.

-snip-

Both weighty and melodic, Mani’s bewitching basslines became the bedrock and, often, the driving force of The Roses’ breakthrough tracks ‘Elephant Stone’, ‘Made Of Stone’ and ‘She Bangs The Drums’, and underpinned the band’s low-slung funk development on ‘Fools Gold’ – arguably a four-minute encapsulation of the entire late-’80s dance rock scene.

-snip-

[highplainsdem]

5. Also from NME - tributes to Mani from a lot of musicians:

https://www.nme.com/news/music/tributes-paid-after-death-of-stone-roses-icon-mani-age-63-3910631