Rio: United, Music & Me

Following the recent announcement of Manchester United's new partnership with Deezer, club legend and music fanatic Rio Ferdinand sat down with ManUtd.com to discuss his musical influences, the link with football and which of his old team-mates would make his United-themed boyband...

Tell us about your musical influences…
Growing up I was influenced by my Dad mainly. He would take me to football all over the place and we’d always have music on in the car. There was a lot of reggae, Marvin Gaye and soul and I remember being at family parties and you’d have all the 80s pop like Madonna, Soul II Soul… so it was a real mix. When I got into my teenage years I was very into hip hop and R&B and when I came to Manchester I got into the Manchester scene with the Stone Roses. I’m a real mixed bag.

First single you ever bought?
I don’t remember the first one I bought but the first records I ever got given, through request, were Michael Jackson, the Bad album and New Kids On The Block! [Laughs]

The crossover between music and football seems to get bigger – you saw that with the impact of the Pogba and Stormzy video which effectively announced Paul’s signing. Impressed?
I think that was an unbelievable bit of PR and marketing. Stormzy is so connected and plugged in to the youth of England and Paul signing was a huge signing for football in general. So it was a great marriage but I think football and music has always had that connection. Nowadays there are so many more tools that you can put together and you can make the connection seem more seamless. Music is something that has always been part of my life growing up and in the changing room before matches and on the way to games you see footballers with their headphones on because everyone loves listening to music.

Do footballers secretly want to be music stars and vice versa?
Yeah. If I could have done anything else I’d have been on stage with the crowd singing with me. I could do it now, if I wanted to do it, but I don’t want to do it! Players definitely want to be music stars and when you speak to musicians they all want to be sports stars. It’s two of the best jobs you can ever think of.

Who had best taste in music dressing room when you played?
Obviously myself! I controlled the music. The tunes weren’t put on unless I gave them the thumbs up, it was always my playlists. When we were winning trophies year after year my playlists were the inspiration, trust me! [Laughs] I could tell you all the songs on them now - they were unbelievable.

What did you used to play?
T-Pain, Bartender was a massive tune at the time. I played some random ones because I tried to play for the whole dressing room. You had Tracy Chapman, Fast Car, a bit of Bob Marley, Fool’s Gold, a couple of Oasis tracks, bit of Kano… we had a nice mix so it was good.

Patrice Evra and Ashley Young were latterly the dressing room DJs…
Yeah and then we stopped winning trophies as regularly as we were doing so that tells you one thing! [Laughs] They were alright. They came to my room every Friday before a game on a Saturday and said ‘Rio is this okay?’ I’d say ‘boys, listen it’s alright it’s cool!’ I got to the point where I had other things to concentrate on with my kids so my priorities changed. I must say though that in the changing room I needed to have music before a game when I was playing. I couldn’t go into a quiet dressing room and just sit there, I needed an atmosphere created through music.

We heard David De Gea liked to try to sneak some of his rock music on…
Urgh, yeah! We used to have a laptop in there and he would come in and want to put his songs on and he used to get shouted out of the room. I don’t know what he was thinking with his choices! But that’s what was good about the dressing room though, we had a big mix so it was good.

Best dancer at the club?
Definitely not one of the Nevilles or Scholesy! Giggsy had some moves back in the day!

If you had to pick a United boyband who would you put in it?
I’d be lead singer obviously. When I first signed I was definitely the front man, blond hair, a little tan, 100% I was the lead. Becks would have be in it doing the drums or something, Giggsy because he could move a bit. Nev can play the guitar and Wazza as well – he could just be flying about the stage doing something! And I’d have Ashley Young, Welbz and Carras as my side-piece dancers in hot pants and long socks… that’s a super group right there!

What song makes you immediately think of United?
Fool’s Gold by the Stone Roses always. It’s an unbelievable tune.