Past: Ian Brown was former lead singer with Stone Roses, a Manchester band whose 1989 debut album, The Stone Roses, has been hailed as a classic of its type. After a war of attrition between band and record company, a follow-up album, Second Coming, was released at the end of 1994. The band subsequently split up amidst internal power struggles and reports of serious drug abuse.

Present: 35 years of age next month, Ian Brown is recognised as the founding father of the UK rock/dance cross fertilisation scene. A separated father of two young boys, he divides his time between Warrington and New York. His debut solo album, Unfinished Monkey Business, is the first major rock album release of 1998. The eagerly anticipated record is released at the end of January.