CONGRATULATIONS to Happy Mondays star Bez and his partner Monica Ward - who are now the proud parents of a bouncing baby boy.

I hear that their new arrival, named Leo John, was born in the early hours of Sunday.

Little Leo is the couple's first baby together, and I hear both mum and baby are doing well.

A band spokesman tells me: "It was almost perfect timing. The band had just finished one performance and there's now a break before their next gig this summer. So our thanks are definitely with little Leo."