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Happy Mondays bassist Paul Ryder left just £6,000 in his estate after dying without writing a will.
The musician, brother of fellow singer Shaun Ryder, died in 2022 at the age of 58, a few hours before the band gave a concert in Sunderland.
Documents obtained by the sun show that Paul did not draw up a British will and originally had only £13,262 in assets when he died, which was later reduced to £5,978 after taking on debts and legal sums.
Many of Paul’s royalties and income are believed to be booked overseas after he moved to Los Angeles in the late 2000s.
The Superior Court granted probate to his daughter Amelia last week.
Shaun, 59, and Paul were the original founders of The Happy Mondays, which first formed in Salford in 1980.
Happy Mondays bassist Paul Ryder (pictured right with brother Shaun) left just £6,000 in his estate after dying without writing a will.
The musician died in 2022, a few hours before the band gave a concert in Sunderland.
Paul was found dead in July 2022, before the band played the Kubix Festival in Sunderland.
The band paid tribute with a Facebook post at the time that read: “The Ryder family and members of the band Happy Mondays are deeply saddened and shocked to say that Paul Ryder passed away this morning.
‘A true pioneer and legend. We will miss him forever. “We thank you for respecting the privacy of everyone involved at this time.”
A coroner ruled that Ryder died of ischemic heart disease and diabetes.
While his brother Shaun insisted his brother’s death was not due to drugs, Paul had previously been very open about his battles with addiction in the band’s early days when he used heroin.
He told The Mirror in 2019: ‘We couldn’t have Calpol for the children. I would drink everything.
In a candid interview in 2007, he said of his drug use: “It was crazy. I was 18 years old and recording an album. I learned to read and write in school, but my real education began on Mondays.
‘I used drugs since I was 17 years old. If you have the money and the lifestyle, it’s part and parcel of the job, especially when people in the industry give it to you for free.
Many of Paul’s royalties and income are believed to be recorded overseas after he moved to Los Angeles in the late 2000s, with the money left to his daughter Amelia.
A coroner ruled that Ryder died of ischemic heart disease and diabetes, but the bassist had previously spoken openly about his struggle with drug addiction.
“That was especially the case in the United States. “They learned very quickly that if there were no drugs, then there was no show.”
His brother Shaun also spoke openly about his drug addiction for 20 years in the past.
In 2014, Paul told MailOnline how he treated his now 16-year-old son’s cancer with cannabis.
He had said that, as a recovering addict, he would never have encouraged Chico to use drugs.
But when faced with his son’s diagnosis, a rare form of soft tissue cancer, the musician said he and his wife made the decision to use cannabis oil.
Paul married music journalist Angela Smith in 2010 after 11 years together and they had two children before separating in 2016.