Noel Gallagher

Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English musician, singer and songwriter.

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.

As the eldest child, Paul was given his own bedroom while Noel had to share his bedroom with Liam.

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 father, who was an alcoholic.

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.

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.

He was expelled from school at the age of 15 for allegedly throwing a "flour bomb" at a teacher, though he has since claimed 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".

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.

However, 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.

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.

Conversely, he was voted the most overrated guitarist of the last millennium in a 1999 poll, and the ninth-most-overrated ever in a 2002 listener survey.

He cited being named the most overrated guitarist of the last millennium as the accolade he most enjoyed receiving.

Britpop eventually declined in popularity, and Oasis failed to revive it, though their final two albums, Don't Believe the Truth (2005) and Dig Out Your Soul (2008), were hailed as their best efforts in over a decade.

He was the primary songwriter, lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis until their split in 2009.

After leaving Oasis, he formed Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.

He is one of the most successful songwriters in British music history, as the writer of eight UK number-one singles and co-writer of a further number one, as well as the sole or primary writer of ten UK number-one 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 eventually became 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.

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 notably had a rivalry with fellow Britpop band Blur.

Gallagher himself was often regarded as a pioneer and spearhead of the Britpop movement.

Many have praised his songwriting, with Beatles producer George Martin calling him "the finest songwriter of his generation".