Paul Wagstaff, guitarist with Happy Mondays, Black Grape and Paris Angels, dies aged 60

nme.com:

Happy Mondays and Black Grape, has died aged 60.Tributes have been paid from a number of Wagstaff’s friends and colleagues, including Bez, who posted a retro image of Black Grape on his Facebook page on Saturday (March 22), adding: “Mr Paul Wagstaff (Wags), remembering the good times.

RIP my friend.”Wagstaff was part of the band Paris Angels, who emerged during the Madchester period in the late 1980s. Closely associated with the burgeoning acid house scene and the legendary Hacienda nightclub, their funky indie dance music was exemplified by singles such as ‘Perfume’ and ‘Scope’.When Shaun Ryder and Bez formed Black Grape in 1993 after the dissolution of Happy Mondays, they recruited Wagstaff on guitar.

He went on to play on their albums ‘It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah’ (1995) and ‘Stupid Stupid Stupid’ (1997), before they split in 1998.Happy Mondays reformed in 1999, and Wagstaff was once again brought in to play guitar, replacing Mark Day.

The two-year spell included a tour supporting Oasis in 2000 and the comeback single ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’, a hit in the UK.Others to pay tribute to Wagstaff included singer-songwriter Badly Drawn Boy, who wrote on X/Twitter: “I’m very saddened to hear of the sudden passing of Wags..