Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Gallagher is the primary songwriter, lead guitarist and a co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis. After leaving Oasis, he formed Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. Gallagher is one of the most successful songwriters in British music history, with nine UK number-one singles and twelve UK number-one albums (eight with Oasis and four with the High Flying Birds). He became the first artist in UK chart history to reach number one with ten consecutive studio albums. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential songwriters in the history of British rock music, cited by numerous major subsequent artists as an influence.
Gallagher began playing the guitar at the age of twelve, and became a roadie and technician for Inspiral Carpets when he was 21. He learnt that his younger brother Liam had joined a band called the Rain, which Liam subsequently renamed to Oasis; Liam invited him to join the group as manager. After rejecting the offer, Gallagher agreed to join the band, on the condition that he would take creative control of the group and become its sole songwriter and lead guitarist. He became the band's de facto leader and he was the sole credited writer for the band's first three studio albums.
The band's debut album, Definitely Maybe (1994), was a widespread critical and commercial success. Their second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995), reached the top of the album charts in many countries, and their third studio album, Be Here Now (1997), became the fastest-selling album in UK chart history. They released the acclaimed B-side compilation album The Masterplan in 1998 before taking a two year break. During this time Britpop eventually declined in popularity, but Oasis continued to have great success having five more UK number one albums (four studio and one compilation album) and four more UK number one singles in the years that followed, and the band's return to form was highlighted by their final two studio albums, Don't Believe the Truth (2005) and Dig Out Your Soul (2008), which were hailed as their best efforts in over a decade. In August 2009, following an altercation with his brother, Gallagher announced his departure from Oasis. He went on to form Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, with whom he has released four studio albums.
Oasis's time was marked by turbulence, especially during the peak of Britpop, during which Gallagher was involved in several disputes with Liam. Their conflicts and wild lifestyles regularly made tabloid headlines. The band had a rivalry with fellow Britpop band Blur. Gallagher himself was often regarded as a pioneer and spearhead of the Britpop movement.Kessler, Ted; "Noelrock!". NME, 8 June 1996. Many have praised his songwriting, with the Beatles producer George Martin calling him "the finest songwriter of his generation". Gallagher has won many awards during his career, including seven Brit Awards and two Ivor Novello Awards for songwriting, all of which he received while he was in Oasis. Conversely, he was voted the most overrated guitarist of the last millennium in a 1999 poll, which he named as the accolade he most enjoyed receiving, and the ninth-most-overrated ever in a 2002 listener survey.
Early life
Noel Thomas David Gallagher was born on 29 May 1967 in the Longsight area of Manchester, to Irish Catholic parents Peggy (née Sweeney) and Thomas Gallagher. Aside from Liam, he also has an older brother named Paul. Shortly after Liam's birth in 1972, the family moved to Ashby Avenue and then Cranwell Drive in the Manchester suburb of Burnage.Harris, John. Britpop!: Cool Britannia and the Spectacular Demise of English Rock. Da Capo Press, 2004. Pg. 118. As the eldest child, Paul was given his own bedroom while Noel had to share his bedroom with Liam."Oasis". Behind the Music, VH1. 2000.
Described as "the weirdo in the family" by Liam, he was known to be a daydreamer and a loner who was often reclusive due to his unhappy childhood. Both he and Paul were beaten regularly by their alcoholic father. In the documentary Supersonic, Noel quipped that his father "beat the talent into him", and that he had never acknowledged or discussed the abuse with a mental health doctor or in a therapeutic setting. Both he and Paul struggled with stammers which were made worse by their father's abuse and were resolved with weekly sessions in four years of speech therapy.
In 1976, Peggy acquired legal separation from Thomas, and in 1982 she left him, taking her three sons with her and continuing to raise them alone as a single mother. Gallagher said to Peggy that "If you don’t get out of here and leave him, I am going to kill him!" Peggy then responded by saying, "Oh Jesus, you can't be doing time for the likes of him."
As teenagers, the Gallagher brothers were regular truants, often getting into trouble with the police. When his mother took a job in the school canteen, Gallagher ensured that he stopped by to visit her during lunch before skipping the rest of the day.Harris, pg. 119 He was expelled from school at the age of 15 for allegedly throwing a flour bomb at a teacher, though he has since said that he did not do it and that he was merely present in the classroom when it happened. He used to hang around with the Manchester City hooligan firms Maine Line Crew, Under-5s, and Young Guvnors in the 1980s, and received six months' probation at the age of 14 for robbing a corner shop. It was during this period of probation, with little else to do, that he first began to teach himself to play guitar, a gift from his mother. He would play his favourite songs from the radio, and was particularly inspired by the debut of the Smiths on Top of the Pops in 1983, performing their single "This Charming Man". He later said that, from that day on, he "wanted to be Johnny Marr".Harris, pg. 120 He also appeared (and scored) for Manchester Gaelic football team CLG Oisín at Croke Park in Dublin in 1983.
As teenagers, the Gallagher brothers maintained limited contact with their father and secured jobs in construction, but the relationship between father and sons continued to be tempestuous; Gallagher said, "Because we were always arguing, we'd still be working at nine o'clock every night." Having left his father's building company, he took a job at another building firm sub-contracted to British Gas. He sustained an injury when a heavy cap from a steel gas pipe landed on his right foot. Following a period of recuperation, he was offered a less physically demanding role in the company's storehouse, freeing up time for him to practise the guitar and write songs. He said he had written at least three of the songs on Definitely Maybe in this storehouse, including "Live Forever". He later called the storehouse "The Hit Hut" and claimed the walls were painted gold. Much of the late 1980s found Gallagher unemployed and living in a bedsit, occupying his time by using recreational drugs, writing songs, and playing the guitar.
In May 1988, Gallagher met guitarist Graham Lambert of Inspiral Carpets during a Stone Roses show. The two became acquainted and Gallagher became a regular at Inspiral Carpets shows. When he heard singer Steve Holt was leaving the band, he auditioned to be the new vocalist.Harris, pg. 121 He was unsuccessful, but became part of the band's road crew for the next two years. He struck up a friendship with monitor engineer Mark Coyle over their love of the Beatles, and the pair spent soundchecks dissecting the group's songs.Harris, pg. 123
Around the time of his work with the Inspiral Carpets, Gallagher—who had already begun writing his own songs—answered an advert in a local newspaper asking for a collaborator and to record some demos. These recordings (featuring tracks such as "Baj", "What's It Got to Do with You?" and "Womb to Tomb") were Gallagher's first steps into recording his own music.
Career Oasis In 1991, Gallagher returned from an American tour with Inspiral Carpets to find that his brother Liam had become a singer with a local band called the Rain. He attended one of their concerts at Manchester's Boardwalk but was unimpressed by the group's act. After rejecting an offer from Liam to be the band's manager,Interview with Frank Skinner, The Frank Skinner Show, 2000 Gallagher agreed to join the band, on the condition that he would take creative control of the group and become its sole songwriter. According to another source, Noel told Liam and the rest of the group after having heard them play for the first time: "Let me write your songs and I'll take you to superstardom, or else you'll rot here in Manchester". His control over the band in its early years earned him the nickname "The Chief".
In May 1993, the band heard that a record executive from Creation Records would be scouting for talent at King Tut's in Glasgow. Together, they found the money to hire a van and make the six-hour journey. When they arrived, they were refused entry to the club because no one notified the venue that Oasis had been added to the bill. The band eventually secured the opening slot and played a four-song set that impressed Creation founder Alan McGee.Harris, pg. 128–29
McGee then took the Live Demonstration tape to Sony America and invited Oasis to meet with him a week later in London, at which point they were signed to a six-album contract. Gallagher has since claimed that he only had six songs written at the time, and has put his success in the interview down to "bullshitting". McGee believes that when they met, Gallagher had fifty or so songs written, and merely lied about how prolific he had been following the contract. Richard Ashcroft was so impressed with Oasis during the time that he invited them to tour with his band the Verve as an opening act.
Gallagher said he wrote Oasis' first single, "Supersonic", in "the time it takes to play the song". "Supersonic" was released in early 1994 and peaked at No. 31 on the official UK charts. The single was later followed by Oasis' debut album Definitely Maybe, which was released in August 1994 and was a critical and commercial success. It became the fastest-selling debut album in British history at the time and entered the UK charts at number one. Despite their rapidly growing popularity, Gallagher briefly left Oasis in 1994 during their first American tour. The conditions were poor, and he felt the American audience—still preoccupied with grunge and metal—did not understand the band. Gallagher stated that his early songs, especially "Live Forever", were written to refute grunge's pessimism. Tensions mounted between him and Liam, culminating in a fight after a disastrous gig in Los Angeles. Having effectively decided to quit the music industry, he flew to San Francisco without telling the band, management or the crew. It was during this time that Gallagher wrote "Talk Tonight" as a "thank you" for the girl he stayed with, who "talked him from off the ledge". He was tracked down by Creation's Tim Abbot, and during a trip by the pair to Las Vegas, Gallagher decided to continue with the band. He reconciled with his brother and the tour resumed in Minneapolis.Harris, pg. 189
Gallagher followed up the debut in 1995 with Oasis' first UK number-one single in "Some Might Say". This preceded their second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, released later that year. Though it suffered initial critical apathy, the album became the second fastest-selling album ever in the UK, entering the UK album charts at number one and peaking at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart.