Bez dances his way to reality win

Bez inspired the Happy Monday's song Freaky Dancer

Celebrity Big Brother winner Bez started out on the road to stardom by shaking maracas for the Happy Mondays.

The "Madchester" pop legend danced his way to becoming the sixth member of the indie-dance band in the late-1980s.

Bez - whose dancing went on to inspire the group's song Freaky Dancing - caught the imagination of fans with his on and off-stage antics.

Famous for his drug-fuelled excesses, Bez admitted he planned to smuggle drugs into Big Brother house.

I may be a bit of a drug addict, man, and I really thought 'I ain't going to last this fortnight' Bez

But Bez, real name Mark Berry, said later he did not carry out the plan as it was too risky and he realised he was in there to ease his financial problems.

The Happy Mondays became a big noise on the Manchester rave scene in the 1980s, with their singles Step On and Kinky Afro reaching the UK top five in the early 1990s.

Ideal housemate

But Bez left the group in the mid-1990s following disagreements with lead singer and best friend Shaun Ryder.

The band reformed briefly in 2000 to play the Glastonbury Festival and again at Get Loaded in the Park in London last year.

Since then, Bez has admitted he has found himself in financial difficulties.

He said: "I've got a hole so deep that I've got to climb out of and now I can do it.

"I've got bankruptcy on my case... and now I can just pay my bills and walk straight with no stress."

Bez said he had already spoken to Ryder since leaving the Celebrity Big Brother house, where he had described him as both his ideal and his nightmare housemate.

Viewer vote

He added that he was inspired to join the third series of Celebrity Big Brother after seeing his friend Goldie take part.

Before entering the reality TV show house he said he would miss his children most of all.

He said his tactic to win was to be himself, saying: "just me, I go with the flow. I wear my heart on my sleeve. I'm just a normal average Joe."

Bez, who was an early bookies favourite to win, took the £50,000 Big Brother prize, after gaining 54% of the final viewer vote.

He chose the tsunami relief appeal as his individual charity.

Speaking after the win, he said: "I may be a bit of a drug addict, man, and I really thought 'I ain't going to last this fortnight'.

"At the end of the day I realise I was there for a reason, for my family and to get me out of this trouble and I couldn't ever bear the risk of losing the lot.

"I had had these mad plans what I was going to do but at the end of the day I couldn't do it because this money I've got now means so much to me."