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Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher
Born May 29, 1967 Longsight, Manchester, England
Guitarist,Vocalist,Songwriter
Gallagher joined Manchester rock/pop group Oasis at the behest of his younger brother lead vocalist Liam Gallagher and quickly asserted his dominance over the group. In the 1980`s Gallagher was centre-stage of the Britpop movement,during which the band enjoyed much critical and commercial success.
Gallagher has been noted for his public outbursts with his brother which have resulted in a few brief departures from Oasis. His outspoken opinions on other bands and modern culture have, more recently, earned him something of an "Elder Statesman" reputation, leading NME to dub him "the Wisest Man In Rock".
Noel was born to Irish parents Peggy and Tommy. He had an older brother Paul and a younger brother Liam. Noel had an unhappy childhood with him and his brothers often taking beatings from their alcoholic father and he was often reclusive. Following several years of unrest in Noels life, he ended up on the wrong side of the law and on one occasion at the age of thirteen received a six months probation order for robbing a corner shop.
It was in this period of probation that Noel first began to teach himself to play guitar, imitating his favourite songs on the radio. Noel was particulaly inspired by the debut of the smiths on Top Of The Pops in 1983 performing their single "This Charming Man". He later reflected "From That Day On I Wanted To Be Johnny Marr" (the Smiths guitarist).
After a brief spell working for his father on a building site which ended due to constant conflict between them, Noel took another building site job but sustained a foot injury which resulted in him being offered a less physically demanding job in the storehouse freeing up time in which to practice guitar and write songs.
He claims to have written at least three of the songs on "Definitely Maybe" in the storehouse including "Live Forever" and "Columbia". Much of the late 1980`s found Noel unemployed and living in a bedsit occupying much of his time with recreational drug use, songwriting and guitar playing. His musical interests at this time were The Beatles, T Rex, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Slade, The Kinks and the Small Faces.
In 1991 his brother Liam joined a band called "Rain"as lead singer. It transpired that Liam had joined the band with the hope of adding his brother and his songwriting abilities but after attending a gig one night Noel was unimpressed with the band. However, after persuasion from Liam he did eventually join the band. In May 1993 the band heard that a record executive would be scouting for talent in "King Tuts", a club in Glasgow, so they hired a van and made the six hour journey.
The band played a four song set that impressed "Creative Records" Alan McGee. He signed them up for a six album contract. Gallagher claims to have written the first Oasis single "Supersonic" in the time it takes to play it. It was released in 1994 and peaked at #31. It was followed by their first album "Definitely Maybe" 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 charts at #1. In 1994 after a disastrous US tour culminating in a fight with his brother, Noel quit the music business and flew to San Francisco without telling anyone. He was tracked down by Creative records Tim Abbot and during a trip by the pair to Las Vegas agreed to rejoin the band.
In 1995 Gallagher wrote the bands first #1 single "Some Might Say" which preceded their second album (Whats The Story) Morning Glory. The album became the second fastest selling album in the UK, entering the UK album charts at#1. The success of Oasis and fame and fortune were not wasted on Gallagher, both he and his brother became famous for their "Rock And Roll" lifestyle. They drank heavily, abused drugs, fought fans, critics, peers and each other. Gallagher spent extravagantly buying various cars and a swimming pool even though he can neither drive nor swim.
Oasis went on to have greater success with their next two singles "Woderwall" and "Dont Look Back In Anger" charting at #2 and #1 respectively. Following the success of "Morning Glory", "Be Here Now!"(1997)became Oasis most eagerly awaited album to date. As with the two previous albums, all the tracks were written by Gallagher. After an initial blaze of publicity, positive critical reviews and commercial success the album failed to live up to expectations and public goodwill towards "Be Here Now" was short lived.
Gallagher began to suffer drug-induced panic attacks, during this period his lonely paranoid state inspired "Gas Panic" subsequently included on the 2000 album "Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants". Gallagher claims to have quit drugs on june 5th 1998. He stated in 2001 "I liked drugs, I was good at them, but Id had panic attacks for about a year and I stopped because I wanted to".
Between 1993 and 1998 he claims "I Can Hardly Remember A Thing". In late 2009 Gallagher toured the UK, Europe, Japan, America and Australia in a series of acclaimed intimate semi-acoustic gigs. The shows proved successful. Gallagher also performed in Moscow, the first member of Oasis to perform in Russia. On Valentines day 2007 Gallagher joined the rest of Oasis to collect the "Outstanding Contribution To Music" award at the Brit Awards. Noel Gallagher is now in a long term relationship with his scottish girlfriend Sara MacDonald who recently gave birth to their son Donovan. Noel now drug free and with his wild days behind him is looking forward to spending as much time as he can with his family |
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