Mark Berry was born on 18 April 1964 in Bolton, Lancashire,[1] the son of parents from the Norris Green district of Liverpool.

"[5] He appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2005, in order to pay off his outstanding tax bills, and was voted as the winner of the series.

He used some of his winnings to improve the engine of his London black cab; the television show Pimp My Ride UK customised it to make it suit him.

On 4 September 2007, Bez went head-to-head with royal correspondent James Whitaker on ITV television programme Don't Call Me Stupid and beat him.

Bez and James taught each other about their respective specialist subjects: the Manchester music scene and royal etiquette, and then they were quizzed on what they had learnt.

His prize, as selected by James, was a bottle of expensive red wine and a decanter so he didn't have to drink any "poor person's supermarket plonk".

Bez took part in Series 4 of Adrenaline Junkie (aired on 1 October 2008 on ITV2), the tasks involved taking on the world's biggest bungee down the front of the dam which featured in GoldenEye, building an ice hotel in the mountains, and undertook a jump from one cable car to another.

On 29 January 2012, Ryder announced on the radio station XFM that the band would return with the original and definitive line-up of himself, his brother Paul Ryder on bass, Bez, Gary Whelan on drums, Rowetta as backing vocalist, Mark Day on guitar and Paul Davis on keyboards.

In September 2018, he took part in a special episode of Bargain Hunt where he and Rowetta competed against Jarvis Cocker and Candida Doyle from Pulp.

[10] In August 2010, Bez was convicted of physically assaulting his ex-girlfriend Monica Ward, with whom he has a son, by throttling and threatening to kill her.

[12] He was arrested at London's Euston Station in November 2010 for breaching a restraining order granted to Ward following the assault, and escorted to appear before magistrates in Manchester.

He is very active in his support, even inviting them to join him on the onstage bed in London during a Black Grape gig and frequently discussing the issue of homelessness.