Liam Gallagher

Liam Gallagher (born William John Paul Gallagher on September 21, 1972, Longsight, Manchester, England) is the lead vocalist of the successful British band Oasis. He is famous for his erratic behaviour, distinctive singing style and abrasive attitude. Although his brother Noel Gallagher writes the majority of the band's songs, in recent years Liam has increasingly developed himself as a songwriter, and has contributed songs for the group's most recent albums.

Despite differing opinions on his antics, Liam was one of the figureheads of the Britpop movement in the 1990s and remains one of the most recognisable characters in modern British music.

Biography

(1972–1993) Childhood and early years

Liam was born in 1972, to Irish parents Tommy and Peggy Gallagher. He was actually born in Burnage, rather than Longsight, and is the youngest of three sons, his brothers being Paul (b. 11 January 1966) and Noel (b. 29 May 1967), to whom he is affectionately known as "our kid". When Gallagher was a child, he was often called "Peggy's Shadow" as he regularly clung to his mother, or "The Weetabix Kid" due to his fondness of the breakfast cereal. Tommy was an alcoholic and was often violently abusive to his family. As the youngest family member, Liam took the abuse particularly badly. When Liam was 14, Peggy took the boys and moved away from Tommy. Noel Gallagher claims they left him with "nothing but the carpets".

Paul and Noel often contend that even from a young age, Gallagher had gone out of his way to antagonise people, especially Noel, with whom he shared a room. When he was around eight years old, he went through a stage in which he claimed that he hated music and would often insult people walking down the street with guitars in their hands, calling them students. Noel has made much of the fact that at the point he was becoming quite proficient with guitars. Because they shared a bedroom, they often fought with each other. The Gallagher brothers were regular truants and in their teens were often in trouble with the police — they allegedly broke into cars and courtyards, stealing bicycles, clothes and lawn-mowers, which they sold for cannabis. Liam, a big fan of football, supports Manchester City and Celtic in Scotland.

Brothers Paul and Noel claim that, as a child, Liam had never really showed an interest in music aside from a period in the mid- to late eighties during which he liked rap, the likes of Run DMC and Public Enemy. Indeed, Gallagher admits he did not care about music until he was eighteen, when he went to see a benefit gig for AIDS awareness at the "International Two" club in Manchester, which has since been knocked down. Though James were headlining, it was The Stone Roses who caught Gallagher's attention (in fact the band forged posters and delayed their set so it would appear they were headlining). Gallagher was captivated and began listening to other bands like The Beatles, The Kinks, The Jam and T.Rex, forging a life-long obsession with John Lennon, which would later lead to him claiming he was Lennon re-incarnated. When The Stone Roses failed to follow up their eponymous debut album, Gallagher became frustrated and decided he wanted to form a band and when school friend Paul McGuigan, nicknamed Guigsy, invited Gallagher to join his band, "The Rain", as a vocalist, he was pleased to offered his services but he insisted that the band's name be changed to "Oasis", named after a venue in Swindon, which was on an Inspiral Carpets tour poster in his and Noel's bedroom.

Liam was the band's co-song writer, along with Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs (who was the also band's guitarist). Noel Gallagher has since openly mocked this writing partnership, whose output was not strong. The band only rehearsed one day a week and didn't get many gigs. It was after one of their rare shows in 1992, that Noel, having recently returned from touring America as a roadie with the Inspiral Carpets, saw them perform. He was highly critical of his younger brother's band, describing them as "utter shite". However, Liam had realised the potential of his brother's songwriting skills and asked him to join. Noel agreed on the condition that he was given complete control of the band and wrote all of their songs.

(1994–1998) Britpop & rock and roll

Under Noel's guidance, Oasis acquired a record contract and recorded the album Definitely Maybe, which became the fastest selling British debut album ever. Gallagher was praised for his vocal contributions to the album, and his presence made Oasis a popular live act. However, his attitude also won him much attention from the British tabloid press who often ran stories concerning his alleged drug use and sexual promiscuity.

During their first American tour in 1994, Gallagher took to changing the words of Noel's songs so that they were offensive to both Americans and Noel. A confrontation after the show led to a chair being thrown and Noel leaving the tour and heading for San Francisco, then Las Vegas. (The song "Talk Tonight" is supposedly about the events that led Noel to rejoining the band.) During recording sessions for Oasis second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, they had a violent fight involving a cricket bat, when a drunken Liam invited everyone from a local pub back into the studio while Noel was trying to work. Also in 1995, drummer Tony McCarroll was asked to leave Oasis after an alleged fight with Gallagher.

(What's the Story) Morning Glory? was even more successful, becoming the second-best selling album in British history. Around this time, Oasis became embroiled in a well documented media-fuelled feud with fellow Britpop band Blur. The differing styles of the bands now leading the Britpop movement — Oasis a gritty, working class, northern band and Blur an art-rock, middle class, southern band — made them natural rivals. Whilst Noel was the most vitriolic of the band (famously telling The Observer that he hoped Damon Albarn and Alex James would "catch AIDS and die"), Liam played along, with the Gallaghers taunting Blur at the 1996 Brit Awards by singing a rendition of "Parklife" when they collected their "Best Album Award" award, with Liam changing the lyrics to "Shite-life". At the same ceremony, Oasis received the award from Michael Hutchence and insulted him straightaway. On Monday, 14 August, 1995, Blur and Oasis released new singles on the same day, setting up a "Battle of the Bands" that dominated the week's music news. Blur's "Country House" outsold Morning Glory's second single, "Roll with It", 274,000 copies to 216,000 during the week.

When Oasis played "Roll with It" on British chart show Top of the Pops they were forced to mime. The Gallagher brothers used the opportunity to switch roles with Liam pretending to play guitar, while Noel pretended to sing (equipped with Liam's tambourine). The set ended with the band erupting in laughter at the Gallaghers' impressions of each other.

The success of Oasis and his newfound fame and fortune were not lost on Gallagher and both he and his brother became famous for their "rock and roll lifestyle". They drank heavily, abused drugs, fought fans, critics and each other and made celebrity friends such as Ian Brown and Richard Ashcroft.

In March 1996, a British newspaper paid Thomas Gallagher to go to the Gallagher's hotel during a tour. Noel left for his room, but Liam took the opportunity to confront his father and threaten him, leading to a two-page story in the newspaper, with the headline "I thought Liam would kill me".

Also in 1996, Oasis sold out two consecutive nights at Knebworth, playing to over 250,000 fans. Only Genesis had previously achieved this feat, but as the first of their August '92 shows was cancelled due to adverse weather, the Oasis '96 shows represented the largest crowds ever to see a single act in British history. Some years later Robbie Williams would sell out three nights at the venue, something that was of utter disinterest to Noel Gallager. Noel summed up Williams' "feat" in five simple words: "It's not about the music".

After Knebworth, tension mounted between the Gallaghers when Liam backed out on Oasis' MTV Unplugged set minutes before it was due to start. Noel was forced to fill in at the last minute. Liam claimed to have been struck down with a "sore throat" and that he doesn't like performing acoustically, though Noel claims he was hung-over. Noel was further angered when Liam proceeded to heckle him from the balcony while the band performed. Four days later, Noel was again forced to fill in for Liam on the first gig of their American tour when Gallagher refused to travel to America with the rest of the band, claiming he needed time to buy a house. He was back on stage with Oasis for their next show three days later, but tension between Noel and the rest of Oasis mounted and on 11 September Noel left the tour, causing many to question the future of the band.

In January 1997, Blur released the first single from their self-titled fifth album. The title of the song, "Beetlebum", and to a certain extent the lyric, is falsely said to be a stab at Gallagher, for his over-idolising The Beatles. However, at this time tension had decreased between the bands.

Gallagher married Patsy Kensit on April 7, 1997, preceding Oasis' much anticipated third album, Be Here Now. However, the wedding got off to a bumpy start. Gallagher made headlines after an incident of road rage. He allegedly leaned out of his car window, grabbed a cyclist and dragged him along. The cyclist was not injured and Gallagher was given a caution[4]. In January 1998 Lisa Moorish, who now fronts Kill City, bore Gallagher a daughter, Molly, who was conceived during an affair in Los Angeles only a week after he and Kensit were married. After an incident of air rage (apparently over a scone) on a flight to Australia, Gallagher was banned for life from Cathay Pacific airlines. Gallagher claimed he would "rather walk". During the tour of Australia, Gallagher was arrested and charged with assault after allegedly head-butting a 19-year-old fan, who claimed he was only asking him for a photo. Criminal charges were later dropped although a civil case was pursued leading to Gallagher reportedly settling out of court. [5]. Liam later admitted the assault, claiming he only did it as he was being hassled by the fan.

(1999–present) Post-Britpop

Further problems followed in 1999, during the recording sessions for Oasis' next album. Liam found himself under much pressure from Patsy and the cocaine-free Noel to temporarily quit alcohol, due to his erratic behavior in the studio. Reluctantly he agreed to stay sober during recording sessions. However, Gallagher's close friend Bonehead left the band after an argument with Noel when he was unable to comply with the band's ban on alcohol. Guigsy left shortly afterwards making Liam the only remaining original member of the band. Bonehead and Guigsy were replaced by Gem Archer and Andy Bell respectively.

Liam's second child, a son, Lennon, was born September 13, 1999. He and Kensit divorced in September 2000, shortly before Noel announced he was divorcing Matthews. Soon after his divorce was closed, Liam began a relationship with Nicole Appleton of the British bands All Saints and Appleton.

Oasis returned in 2000 with Standing on the Shoulder of Giants. This featured their first song written by Liam rather than Noel. "Little James", a childlike melody written for Kensit's son James Kerr, surprised many who had expected a more aggressive song from Gallagher. The album was poorly received by critics.

Whilst on tour in Barcelona in May 2000, Oasis were forced to cancel a gig when drummer Alan White's arm seized up, the band spent the night drinking instead. During the night, Liam made a derogatory comment about Noel's then wife, Meg Mathews (apparently questioning the legitimacy of Noel's daughter), leading to a massive fight. Following this, a press release was put out, declaring that Noel had decided to quit overseas touring with Oasis, and the rest of the band (with guitarist Matt Deighton replacing Noel) played the rest of Oasis' non-UK shows for the rest of the tour.

Liam Gallagher's second son, Gene, was born to Appleton on July 3, 2001. Liam famously tried to drag a photographer into a fight outside the hospital. Oasis' next album, Heathen Chemistry (2002), featured three more songs written by him. Two were Lennonesque tracks, but one, Songbird, was an acoustic ballad about his love for Appleton. The song was deemed worthy to appear as the fourth single from the album, reaching #3 in the UK charts.

The band endured a streak of hard luck incidents while on tour in 2002: On August 7, Noel, Andy Bell and keyboardist Jay Darlington were injured in a car crash while riding in a taxi in Indianapolis, Indiana. The three members of the band were treated for shock, cuts, and bruises. Noel was riding in the front seat and suffered severe facial bruising and seat belt cuts, and Darlington has had his hand cut and bandaged. Liam was not with his bandmates at the time of the accident. Subsequent tour dates in Boston and New York City were cancelled and never rescheduled.

Later that year on December 1, Gallagher broke several of his teeth and sustained injuries to his face after a fight broke out in a Munich hotel. He and Alan White were arrested, but were released without charge. Oasis had to pull out of the shows in Munich and Düsseldorf due to Liam's injuries.

Longtime drummer and Liam's official drinking partner Alan White left in early 2004 to be replaced by Ringo Starr's son Zak Starkey.

In 2004, Gallagher made headlines when it was revealed that he regularly paid £2000 in child support for his son Lennon Francis and daughter Molly. Furthermore, he criticised the father of Lisa Moorish's other child — former Libertines and current Babyshambles frontman, Pete Doherty — for his alleged lack of child support. The relationship between the two was put under further strain, because of Doherty's heavy heroin habit and visits to Moorish under the influence of the drug. Liam has recently expressed his disgust towards Doherty's habit in the press.

2005 saw the release of Oasis' sixth studio album, Don't Believe the Truth, featuring a further three compositions by Gallagher. "Love Like a Bomb" (co-written with rhythm guitarist Gem Archer), another acoustic ballad, was well received, and "Meaning of Soul" was a hard rocking track. Many have speculated that "Guess God Thinks I'm Abel" is an apology to Noel for the incident that took place between the two in Barcelona five years previously.

Public persona

Oasis appeared on the music scene in 1994 and quickly made a public image for themselves. They chose to portray themselves — arguably realistically — as loud mouthed, arrogant and aggressive. This caught the public's imagination. Though the other members of the band took this role lightly, Liam appears to have really taken it to heart, often verbally abusing photographers and members of the public in his Mancunian accent, with his trademark arrogant swagger.

His aggressive character occasionally gets him into fights. One of his most high profile disputes was with Robbie Williams. Following Williams split from the boyband Take That, the two became close friends. However, it was not to last. In his autobiography, Feel, Williams claimed, "Liam was really paranoid about everything. It's dreadfully sad for him." The two battled through the press and the dispute finally came to a head when Robbie offered to fight him for a £100,000 charity purse. Liam never agreed. Although there was genuine ill feeling between the two, many thought the dispute to be little more than a publicity stunt. When James Walsh of Starsailor approached Noel to question him about negative comments made in the press, Liam interjected and ended up "squaring up" to Walsh. The two were to feud for some time afterwards. In 2006, it was alleged that Gallagher had a drunken fight with Paul Gascoigne at The Groucho Club which ended with Gallagher setting off a fire extinguisher in Gascoigne's face. At the 1996 Brit Awards, INXS singer Michael Hutchence presented Oasis with an award, after which Gallagher remarked, "Has-beens shouldn't be presenting awards for gonna-bes".

Gallagher has made known his distaste for many non-Brits' tastes and conventions (particularly those of Australians and Americans). On an early U.S. tour, Gallagher regularly made derisive remarks about Americans, as well as his brother Noel, which led to an ultimatum from the guitarist who briefly left the band in 1994. At different times, addressing their less-than-hysterical reception in the States (espcecially by comparison to the UK), Gallagher stated, "...Americans have bad taste — hence the Backstreet Boys...they should be shot." and "Americans want grungy people, stabbing themselves in the head on stage. They get a bright bunch like us, with deodorant on, they don't get it." Public opinion of him is generally more a result of exaggerated media reports, rather than truthful events.

Liam has also had a habit of making incomprehensible statements. He has in the past claimed that he was possessed by the spirit of John Lennon, even going so far as to suggest he is Lennon in a re-incarnated form, despite the fact that he was eight years old when the former Beatle was murdered. However strange, Noel claims to feed this obsession, he occasionally indulges him, going so far as to buy him Lennon's "dreamcatcher" necklace. In March 2006, Gallagher publicly blasted the Rolling Stones and U2, saying "I respect the Stones but their songs are a pile of crap. As for U2, they don't say a lot or seem like normal people."

Unlike many band frontmen, actors and celebrities, Liam and Noel remained quiet about the Iraq War in 2003, never solidly stating whether they were for or against it. They both criticised people who chose to use their celebrity as a soap box for political opinions.

On October 27 2006 Liam Gallagher reportedly attempted to ring Virgin Radio on the Who's Calling Christian? (Christian O'Connell) show where there is the chance to win £10,000 for charity. Liam was apparently in a drunken state and it took him three hours after an aggressive protest to convince Virgin bosses that it was indeed him and not an imposter. A great deal of swearing occurred off air between the managers and Gallagher who swore that he would come down to Virgin Radio and "Rip Christian O'Connell's fucking head off". After further phone calls from Polydor records and from Nicole Appleton begging for him to be let on, Gallagher was eventually allowed on and swore live on air on a morning breakfast show which may result in a fine. However he did not complete the conversation, leaving Zak Starkey to speak for him, saying that he had to take his kids to see Harry Potter.

Liam Gallagher recently commented on the "wide range of talent amongst London's buskers." He has often been seen in Covent Garden tipping buskers and having a quick chat with them between songs. "There was one kid in the station, who was mega on the acoustic guitar and he happened to be playing one of our songs."

Lead singer

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Liam performing at an Oasis concert, 2005

Liam is well known for his original style of singing, and his voice on Oasis tracks is instantly recognisable. Liam once compared his vocal style to a blend of John Lennon and John Lydon while Stephen Thomas Erlewine, contributor to allmusic.com dubbed him, "the best singer in rock." Noel has hinted that he uses certain words regularly in his songs because of the way Liam pronounces them when he sings.

The UK-based music magazine NME has regularly proclaimed Liam as the "greatest British vocalist of the past 25 years." Popular website allmusic.com also declared Liam had retaken his throne atop the rock world's vocalist landscape following the release of Don't Believe the Truth in 2005.

Liam's stage presence has been both praised and derided. Often compared to Manchester legend Ian Brown, walking like him, using a tambourine in the same way and standing and staring at the crowd in the same way. He is famed for going against rock and roll tradition by rarely touching the microphone or its stand. Instead, he stands, hands behind back or in his pockets, with a bent knee and sideways bend at the waist, his neck bent upwards towards an angled-down microphone. This recognisable singing pose has been suggested by some as a contributing factor to his distinctive vocals.

But many years of singing in that pose, along with heavy smoking and drinking, may have taken their toll, with many fans feeling Gallagher's voice may now lack the range and power he exhibited in his youth. Although it is a subject regularly debated and argued about by Oasis fans, neither Liam or Noel Gallagher have made much public comment about it, although in a BBC interview on June 2002, Liam admitted he couldn't sing certain older songs live "because I'm not 21 these days", and in December 2005 Noel expressed frustration at the lack of variation in live setlists because "We draw up a list of songs we'd like to play, Liam crosses them all off, and then he draws up a list of songs that he's capable of singing, and then we kind of look at it and go 'but that's the fucking same as last time'."

Oasis' performance at the Brit Awards 2007 hosted at Earl's Court, London on February 14, 2007 (in which the band won the 'Outstanding Contribution to Music' award) proved that Liam no longer has the vocal range and ability of his youth as he appeared to be struggling throughout the set. They performed three songs, Cigarettes & Alcohol, The Meaning of Soul and Morning Glory.

Songwriting

Liam's first known dabbles into songwriting came in the early days of Oasis, before Noel Gallagher joined. Liam and Bonehead co-wrote a handful of songs, Liam writing the words and Bonehead writing the music, including "Take Me" and "Life in Vain" (both available on bootlegs). Of these songs, only "Take Me" met the Noel Gallagher seal of approval, with his wish to re-record and release it being turned down by the writers.

Liam also co-wrote a song (titled "Love Me and Leave Me") with former Stone Roses guitarist and songwriter John Squire for The Seahorses' debut album in 1997.

With 2000's "Standing on the Shoulder of Giants" came a slight relaxation in Noel's songwriting monopoly. Liam's first successful attempt to produce a song adequate for an Oasis album was "Little James", written about his stepson James. The song was ridiculed by a lot of fans and critics who mocked its childlike rhyming scheme and heavy Beatles influence.

This more democratic approach to songwriting, gave Liam further chances to showcase his abilities in this particular area, with three songs being included on 2002's Heathen Chemistry: a "deep-thinking" rocking ballad, "Born on a Different Cloud", the sneering rocker "Better Man" and the mellow, acoustic "Songbird", written for his fiancée, Nicole Appleton. Noel claimed that his brother had written five songs for the Heathen Chemistry sessions and from these they took the best three. His tunes, along with the record, received a much warmer reception from fans and high sales, despite receiving bad reviews from critics again.

The latest Oasis album, 2005's Don't Believe the Truth, features a further three of Liam's songs: "The Meaning of Soul", "Love Like a Bomb" and "Guess God Thinks I'm Abel". The second is described by Noel as "Songbird's bigger brother" and a "song for the ladies", while the latter is a song in the vein of "Born on a Different Cloud", but without the guitars. Another Liam song is the acoustic ballad "Won't Let You Down" — also inspired by Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance" — which appeared on the single "Lyla". Noel stressed that most of the batch of 70 tunes written for the turbulent Don't Believe the Truth sessions were written single-handedly by Liam. Another new Liam-written song was released as a B-side to the single "The Importance of Being Idle". The song, entitled "Pass Me Down The Wine", features an acoustic-led melody in the vein of "Songbird".

However, in an interview following the release of Don't Believe the Truth, Liam stated that he doesn't believe he is improving as a songwriter and often needs guitarist Gem Archer's assistance. As a consequence, Gem is credited as co-writer of "Love Like a Bomb" on the new album. He commented, "Gem helps me out a lot, I struggle with lyrics sometimes... I can't find the words. The words I find hard 'cos I'm fucking thick."

A new Liam song, "The Boy with the Blues", was planned for a stand-alone single release in Summer 2006, but the scheduled recording sessions for the song didn't take place.

Controversy

Gallagher has always been known for his recreational habits. In 1997 during the band's Be Here Now tour, Liam came across on stage as being totally incoherent. He sometimes stumbled, and actually fell during an appearance in France. At the latter concert, while he performed "Champagne Supernova", Liam stood behind Noel in a parody of a slow dance and also attempted to grab Noel's penis. This initiated major problems between the brothers .

External links

• Oasisinet Official Oasis Website
• live4ever, the Italian Oasis website
• Liam Gallagher at IMDb
• Oasis Online Argentina
• Listen to Oasis
• Oasis Australia
• Oasis News News, reviews and tour info
• Stop Crying Your Heart Out Fan page