Ryder has been an active member of the band through most of its history, from its inception in 1983 through to the present day, and was often credited for giving the band their trademark groove upon which some of their biggest hits were built. His bandmates include his brother Shaun Ryder, Gary Whelan, Mark "Bez" Berry, Paul Davies and Mark Day. It was during his tenure with the band that it had its biggest successes with albums such as Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches which sold more than 350,000 copies in the UK alone.
Acting
Although best known for his role in the Happy Mondays, he has also acted in several films, "The Ghosts of Oxford Street", "Losing it" and gave a critically acclaimed performance in the film about his band, "24 Hour Party People" where he played the part of a gangster. Actor Paul Popplewell played the part of Paul Ryder in the film. He has also appeared in many TV shows both as an actor and music industry pundit and commentator.
Other projects
He left Happy Mondays to pursue other projects including writing music for several TV shows and forming a new band Big Arm, who released a critically acclaimed album in 2008 called Radiator. Big Arm supported Ian Brown on a UK tour in 2008 and featured his longtime collaborator Pete Smith as programmer, Danny Short on drums and Daz Gilkinson on guitar, as well as Happy Mondays former percussion player Lea Mullin. He has also worked as an international DJ playing to large crowds around the world. He is currently living in Los Angeles where he continues to write music. He supported Tom Tom Club on two of the dates on the North America tour in October 2010, playing gigs in San Francisco and Los Angeles. He was joined by fellow musicians Eddy Gronfier, Neo Garcia on drums and Matt Cheadle on guitar. In January 2012 it was announced that Happy Mondays were reforming with all of the original members, including Paul Ryder. Happy Mondays continue to perform live shows around the world March 2017 Paul, Gary Whelan and Ben Knott are working on a new project The Supafreak. Recording in Cheshire with guest vocalists the results which Gaz Whelan describes as 'Not an album but your entire record collection in 50 minutes' will be released late 2017/2018 Happy Mondays are playing festivals throughout the Summer followed by a 25 date tour Nov/Dec. Paul is also DJing in the UK
