page_title: Ian Brown
section_title: Solo career
hierarchical_section_title: Ian Brown / Biography / Solo career
caption_attribution_description: English: Ian Brown in Ireland in 2002
context_page_description: Ian George Brown is an English singer and multi-instrumentalist. He was the lead singer of the alternative rock band the Stone Roses from their formation in 1984. Following the split in 1996, he began a solo career, releasing seven studio albums, a greatest hits compilation, a remix album, an 11-disc box set titled Collection, and 19 singles. He has performed solo shows in 45 countries. He returned to singing for the Stone Roses in 2011, although this did not spell the end of his solo endeavours, releasing First World Problems through Virgin/EMI Records on 25 October 2018. He had a cameo appearance in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
context_section_description: After a break from music in Morocco, Brown established his solo career with the debut solo single "My Star", which was released in the UK on 12 January 1998. The debut album Unfinished Monkey Business followed on 2 February 1998. The album was produced and financed by Brown and featured ex-Roses members Mani, Nigel Ipinson, Aziz Ibrahim, and Robbie Maddix. The album sold over 300,000 copies.
  Brown toured in summer 1998 with a band that included Aziz Ibrahim (guitar), Inder "Goldfinger" Matharu (tabla/percussion), Simon Moore (drums), and Sylvan Richardson (bass), including performances at the Glastonbury Festival and the V Festival. Brown was arrested after a flight back from his live show in Paris and later sentenced to four months in prison for using threatening behaviour towards an airline stewardess and captain, a charge he denied, causing his tour to be rescheduled. His bandmate Aziz Ibrahim condemned the sentence, saying that Brown was "just being cheeky". While in Strangeways Prison, Brown wrote the lyrics for "Free My Way", "So Many Soldiers", and "Set My Baby Free". He was released on parole after two months.
  His second album, Golden Greats, was released by Polydor Records 1999. It featured more electronic instrumentation and earned critical acclaim. For his third studio album, Music of the Spheres, Brown sought outside production help for the first time, hiring the services of songwriter and producer Dave McCracken, who would go on to become a regular collaborator. He toured the US for the first time as a solo artist in support of the album.
  Brown's fourth solo album, Solarized, was released in the UK on 13 September 2004 and was the first to be released under the revived Polydor imprint Fiction Records. When his new Fiction A&R Jim Chancellor was asked in HitQuarters what contribution he makes to Brown's records, he said, "There's not as much to do. Ian is very much the master of his own records."
  Since the break-up of the Stone Roses in 1996, Brown has released six solo albums and fourteen UK Top 40 singles. He has sold out seven UK tours and appeared three times at the Glastonbury Festival, including headlining the Other Stage in 2005. He has appeared five times at V Festival since 1998, along with regular appearances at T in the Park and Oxegen festivals, and played the Move festival in 2002 at Old Trafford Cricket Ground  as well as two tours of Australia in 2006 and 2008.
  Brown had a cameo role in the 2004 film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as a wizard magically stirring his drink while reading Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time at the Leaky Cauldron.
  For the 2005-06 season, Brown was the shirt sponsor of London Commercial Division football team Chiswick Homefields, the players wearing an "IB – The Greatest" logo on their chests. Brown is a lifelong supporter of Manchester United and is a season ticket holder.
  At the 2006 NME awards, Brown was presented with the "Godlike Genius" award and in 2007, was given the Q "Legend" Award.
  In September 2007, Brown released his fifth studio album, The World Is Yours. The album represented a more political approach in his music, particularly the anti-war track "Illegal Attacks", which featured Sinéad O'Connor. The album also featured former Smiths bassist Andy Rourke, Paul Ryder of Happy Mondays, and Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols.
  My Way, his sixth solo album, was released in September 2009. It was recorded at London's Battery Studios with producer Dave McCracken; the first single, "Stellify", was released 21 September 2009. Brown played Manchester Arena for the 3rd time in December 2009 and in 2010, made his 3rd appearance in Moscow and 2nd in Beijing, China. Since turning solo in 1998, Brown has played shows in 45 countries.
  In 2010, Brown had a cameo as a policeman in an episode of This Is England '86.
  Brown has collaborated several times with UNKLE, appearing on "Be There" in 1999 and on "Reign" on the 2003 album Never, Never, Land, which was also released as a single.
  On 25 October 2018, he released his first solo material in 9 ye
caption: Ian Brown at the Witnness festival in Ireland in 2002
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