Who's The Daddy: Goodbye Mani – our house band has lost its heart
When the news broke late last Thursday afternoon that Mani, bass player and soul of The Stone Roses had died unexpectedly, a generation felt it.
Aged just 63 and with a stellar career with the Roses and Primal Scream, Gary Mounfield was one of us - a fan who made it on stage to be an integral part of the greatest band of our time.
Their perfect 1989 debut album still sounds like it was recorded last week and even the much maligned follow-up Second Coming (written on the hoof in the studio) has half a dozen absolute bangers on it that every band in the world would sell their granny for.
News of Mani’s death was delivered by visibly moved TV journalists on ITV and the BBC last Thursday evening to millions of fans stunned into silence by the terrible news.
The Roses were Daughter #1’s first stadium gig, aged 16, dragged to Man City along with her then-boyfriend by yours truly as part of a teenage musical education that included shows by Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, Prince, Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead.
In early 2002, a few months before her birth that May, The Boss felt Daughter #2 kick for the first time along to the world’s finest rhythm section - Mani’s bass and Reni’s drums on Something’s Burning as it thundered out of our car stereo speakers.
And our house has been like a shrine to the Roses for decades, with artwork on the walls of just about every room. They are literally our house band and I’ve listened to their music more or less every day since the late 1980s and seen them play more times than is healthy.
But apart from being a quarter of the greatest band in the world, Mani was by all accounts a beautiful person. On the TV news last Thursday night, music journalist and friend John Robb made the point that all the eulogies could easily have been made a fortnight ago while he was still with us.
Heartfelt tributes from contemporaries and friends such as bandmates John Squire and Ian Brown, the Gallagher brothers, Tim Burgess of The Charlatans, Shaun Ryder and Rowetta were truly moving. Oasis showed Mani in his prime on their giant video screens as they played Live Forever, which Liam dedicated to “our dear friend and hero”, on their world tour in São Paulo in Brazil.
And only last month Mani appeared on the Rockonteurs with Gary Kemp and Guy Pratt podcast, large as life and twice as funny, telling stories with passion and humour about his time with the Roses and Primal Scream.
Earlier this month he’d also announced a nationwide speaking tour for 2026/27 - due into Morecambe next November - for a night of no-filter memories of an explosive period in musical history when absolutely anything seemed possible.
Tragically, Mani’s wife Imelda died two years ago after being diagnosed with bowel cancer and the couple leave 12-year-old twin boys. If proof were ever needed that the game’s not straight then this is it.
Mani, you lived the dream. You played on the greatest songs ever recorded. Household names formed bands because of the records you made. Heaton Park in 2012 was so special, bottled air from the gig was bought and sold on eBay. A special talent and a beautiful soul taken way too soon. RIP Mani.
To read more Who’s The Daddy click here