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.
[2] He then moved with his family, including a brother (David) and sister (Sharon) to Sylvan Avenue in Timperley, Altrincham.
[7] In 2015 and 2017, he testified against a former teacher at Altrincham Grammar, Fred Talbot, who was found guilty of sexually abusing pupils in the 1970s.
[8] Brown's interest in music was inspired by the punk movement, specifically the bands Sex Pistols, the Clash, and Manchester-based Slaughter & the Dogs.
[9] Brown and original Stone Roses bassist Pete Garner attended the recording of the Clash single "Bankrobber" in Manchester.
[10] Brown's music career began in 1980, playing bass guitar in a band with John Squire and Simon Wolstencroft.
They joined Mick Jones from The Clash, The Farm, and Pete Wylie at the Manchester Ritz in a concert in aid of the Justice for Hillsborough campaign.
They performed "Elizabeth My Dear" as a duo before being joined by Mick Jones and The Farm for renditions of the Clash's "Bankrobber" and "Armagideon Time", with Ian Brown taking on lead vocals for the three songs.
The album was produced and financed by Brown and featured ex-Roses members Mani, Nigel Ipinson, Aziz Ibrahim, and Robbie Maddix.
[citation needed] 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.
The album represented a more political approach[citation needed] in his music, particularly the anti-war track "Illegal Attacks", which featured Sinéad O'Connor.
Brown played Manchester Arena for the third time in December 2009 and in 2010, made his third appearance in Moscow and second in Beijing, China.
[43][44] 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.
[59] 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.
[60] In October 1998, Brown was arrested and sentenced to four months in jail for threatening a British Airways attendant on a flight to Manchester from Paris.
[66] During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, Brown promoted conspiracy theories[67] that contributed to COVID-19 misinformation,[68][69] and criticised lockdowns, the use of masks and the COVID-19 vaccine.
He pulled out of a festival headline slot as he disagreed with its vaccine passport for entry policy, calling it the "new nazi normal".
[68] Brown's anti-COVID lockdown song "Little Seed, Big Tree", which featured lyrics alluding to conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccine,[71] was taken down from Spotify.