Geelong funeral farce: Singer-songwriter Chris Stefano ruins service

A mother whose son died in devastating circumstances had to endure his funeral being cruelly disrupted by a stranger who danced alongside the coffin, swore at mourners and cut into speeches.

Ryan Bishop, who had long suffered from major health problems, was 35 when he was last seen riding a scooter at Melton on the outskirts of Melbourne and was found dead five days later on May 20.

His family planned a fitting farewell a fortnight later in a chapel at Barrabool Hills, not far from where Mr Bishop had grown up at Lara, about 20 minutes’ drive north of Geelong.

Shortly after the June 5 service commenced, the proceedings erupted in mayhem with the unplanned appearance of Chris Stefano, a local singer-songwriter who barely knew Mr Bishop.

Mr Bishop’s grieving mother Leanne Giuffre told Daily Mail Australia what happened next was ‘absolutely deplorable’.

The funeral began with a song chosen by Mr Bishop’s partner of five years, Daniel – Here With Me by American electronic music producer Marshmello featuring Scottish synth-pop band Chvrches.

‘This Chris guy walked up to the front of the stage and started dancing and singing,’ Ms Giuffre said.

‘It was like he was a performer at a concert. Everyone was looking around and thinking who the heck is this person?’

Ms Giuffre said her daughter Rhiannon Priddle asked if she had organised the performance, just as the spectacle got even worse. 

‘He then walked down the middle of the aisle,’ Ms Giuffre said. ‘He was touching people.

‘He got up onto chairs and he was doing what they call sl*t-dropping – strippers do that type of thing on stage. It was just beyond belief.’

Ms Giuffre said when a photo montage of Mr Bishop was shown, Stefano ‘started yelling out inappropriate things’, and continued swearing as Ms Priddle rose to deliver her eulogy.

Somehow Ms Priddle managed to maintain her composure, telling Stefano, ‘You and I can argue about this later thank you’. 

Next came a song Ms Priddle chose as a tribute to her brother, Give Me More by his favourite artist, Britney Spears.

‘This Chris guy got up and walked to the stage and grabbed the microphone,’ Ms Giuffre said.

‘He went over to a family member and tried to drag her up on the stage to try to dance. He was dancing up down the aisle in between the chairs.

‘He was dancing and singing his lungs out like he was some performer – I was absolutely mortified.

‘The funeral director came up to me and said, ‘Do you want this shut down?’ and I said, ‘Definitely’.’

Ms Giuffre said ‘a big burly bloke’ from Tuckers Funeral & Bereavement Service told Stefano he had to leave.

‘When they got him outside he said to the funeral director, ‘Can I just grab a can of Coke’,’ she said. ‘It was shocking.

‘I thought I’d never have to hold a funeral service for my son. For this this person to do that at my son’s funeral was just utterly disrespectful.

‘I don’t know how he ended up there but we found out he had known Ryan 10 or 12 years ago. Nobody knew who he was what he was doing there.’

Ms Priddle said Stefano’s reaction to his bizarre behaviour being challenged was just as weird and offensive.

‘He said, ‘I don’t give a f*** what you think of me, I’m Chris Stefano’,’ she said.  ‘It’s like he thinks he’s untouchable.’

Ms Priddle said of Stefano ‘it was almost like he thought he was at a party’.

‘He was laughing very inappropriately, not a little giggle here and there,’ she said.

‘You would think you were at a comedy show the way he was laughing. He was literally dancing on the back of chars and slut-dropping.

‘My cousin is pregnant and he nearly fell on top of her while he was doing his performing.’

Mr Bishop’s father was also at the service, along with Mr Bishop’s two brothers. 

‘He is very lucky that he walked out of there without being flogged,’ Ms Priddle said. 

‘My other brothers and my dad are not ones to normally tolerate s*** like this.’

Ms Priddle was still so angry three weeks later she posted a summary of what had occurred on the Geelong Name and Shame Facebook page.

The post was taken down after receiving almost 300 comments, including one from Mr Bishop’s cousin, who hoped Stefano never tried to ruin anyone’s else’s funeral.

‘Ryan deserved so much better than this,’ the cousin wrote.

‘And you Chris Stefano took his celebration of life to an unforgivable length and ultimately made his special day all about you!’

Stefano, whose single Boundaries is available on Spotify, has spoken publicly in the past about his bipolar disorder and describes himself as a mental health advocate.

He is a Britney Spears superfan and cites singers Taylor Swift, Sam Smith, George Michael and Olivia Newton-John as musical and personal inspirations.

‘Mark my words, I will be the next king of pop,’ the obscure music maker told a Geelong publication in May. 

Ms Priddle said Stefano, who Daily Mail Australia tried to contact, had made no attempt to get in touch with her mother to apologise for his conduct during the service. 

‘I don’t really have words for him,’ Ms Priddle said. ‘He made a mockery out of my brother’s funeral. He’s just a very disrespectful human being.

‘I think the worst part is that it was the one day that my mother and I had left with my brother on Earth and he’s taken that away and made it about himself.’

Mourners were still able to send Mr Bishop off in style by discharging 35 coloured smoke bombs – one for each year of his life – as his hearse was driven away from the chapel.

The details of his death are distressing for the family and a report is being prepared for the coroner. 

Mr Bishop had suffered from type 1 diabetes which led to peripheral neuropathy, a painful condition caused by nerve damage, and he had been unable to work in recent years. 

‘He was happy go lucky,’ Ms Giuffre said. ‘No matter what happened over the years.

‘He was a bit of a social butterfly too. He loved hard.’

Mr Bishop’s ashes are on a table inside his mother’s front door and she greets them when she gets up in the morning, when she goes to bed and as she heads off to work as a nurse.

‘At the moment I feel like there’s a really big void in my heart because he’s not there,’ she said. 

‘I’m struggling a couple of times through the day knowing I’m never going to get a phone call. 

‘He always loved me and I always loved him I still love him.’

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