Happy Mondays star Bez is launching his own online exercise classes after getting “seriously unfit” scoffing chocolate last lockdown.
The maraca-shaking dancer, famed for his onstage antics as part of the “Madchester-era” band, hopes to lose his lockdown weight and help motivate others.
The 56-year-old, whose real name is Mark Berry, will be sharing videos on YouTube under the title Get Buzzin’ With Bez.
But unlike lockdown fitness star Joe Wicks, who creates his own workout videos, Bez will be following the orders of a personal trainer as well as visiting a psychologist, learning yoga and trying hypnotherapy.
He said: “I’d like to think I’m somewhere between Joe Wicks and Mr Motivator.
“I’ve started this new year seriously unfit, with a fat belly and creaky hips, and I can’t stop eating chocolate.
“Last lockdown I got unfit, fat, lazy and into some seriously bad eating habits.
Bez and frontman Shaun Ryder in the Happy Mondays
“This year, this lockdown, I need to sort it out sharpish.”
A short teaser video shows Bez warming up in a park under the watch of a personal trainer from the Fit Forward company.
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Bez won Celebrity Big Brother in 2005 and stood unsuccessfully as a candidate in the 2015 general election.
Happy Mondays, fronted by Shaun Ryder, was one of the leading bands in the “Madchester” scene of the late ’80s and early ’90s, along with groups including The Stone Roses and Inspiral Carpets.