Becoming A Rock And Roll Star 

 

Born in Burnage Manchester in 1972 a then young Liam Gallagher had a troubled time in his younger years, with parents Peggy and Thomas getting divorced when he was ten years old thus fundamentally ending his relationship with his father. They lived as a family of three: himself, his mother and his future band mate and older brother Noel Gallagher. Liam and Noel would share a bedroom in their house and were incredibly close as youngsters. 

 

Liam would find himself quite troubled in his early teens not really caring for school , his grades suffered, he was shoplifting and stealing bikes from local shops, he was also suspended for three months for fighting in his last year of secondary school but returned to finish and eke out some grades in the end. Liam was always a sports orientated kid being a huge fan of the Manchester City football team and never had an interest in music but after an incident fighting with a rival school Liam was struck in the head by a hammer and he claims that this changed his perspective on music and all he wanted to do from then on was want to be in a band. Seeing his style being likened to both John Lennon and Johnny Rotten, Gallagher states that Lennon was his only real musical influence although later admitted that it was Madonna?s ?Like A Virgin? single that prompted his musical ambitions.

 

Liam would start singing for his friend and guitarist Paul ?Bonehead? Arthurs band called ?The Rain? when he was 19 after the rest of the band, drummer Tony McCarroll and bassist Paul McGuigan wanted to part with then singer Chris Hutton.  Still nothing special with the band practising just once a week and very rarely getting gigs, little did they know they were two pieces away from completing the puzzle for their success. 

 

Liam had come up with the idea to change the band's name to something that he had seen on an Inspiral Carpets tour poster he had in his bedroom shared with brother Noel. The poster listed one of the gig venues named ?Oasis Leisure Centre, Swindon? and thus from that point onward Oasis was born but was still not fully complete. 

 

Oasis played their first gig in August 1991 in Manchester at a venue called The Boardwalk Club and while the then four members stood on stage making a racket as the openers for The Catchmen and Sweet Jesus, Noel Gallagher was in the crowd watching and thinking of how he could join the group and use it as a way to play, record and release songs he had been working on and so after the gig Noel spoke to the band members about joining and becoming the sole songwriter for the band.  It was agreed that Noel would join and they would all commit their time to success,  little did Liam know but this was the ticket for his music dreams to become a reality. 

 

Britpop Legend 

 

Liam came into his own as a front man upon Oasis?s meteoric rise to success with debut album ?Definitely Maybe? and the follow-up ?(What's The Story) Morning Glory?? sending the world seemingly into ?Oasismania?. Singles such as ?Supersonic?, ?Wonderwall? and ?Don?t Look Back In Anger? are now some of the most iconic singles of the 1990s.  The band would have world tours and saw people were mesmerised by Liam?s loud, brash and unapologetic personality - his vocal style was raw and unique.  His antics off stage were also getting increasingly more wild with every report that came out about them. Some considered him to be childish, loud mouthed and an ego maniac but others (including himself) saw him as a true rock and roller so for better or worse Liam very much stuck to his beliefs, solidifying himself as a name to be remembered. 

 

The Fall Out Of The Gallagher Brothers And The End Of Oasis 

 

Liam and Noel Gallagher had a storied history of feuds with each other, with bickering, arguments and fights aplenty over the course of Oasis?s run and even before in earlier life, but even after eighteen years, seven albums, countless gigs the saying ?What goes up must come down? came true and an eventual series of festival appearance cancellations in 2009 led to a statement by Noel being issues that read,

 

 ?It is with some sadness and great relief...I quit Oasis tonight. People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.? 

 

And just like that Oasis was finished and Liam had to find new avenues for his music. 

 

Giving Beady Eye A Try

 

After Oasis?s split Liam Gallagher was quick to keep the remaining members together and started a new band Beady Eye. Liam quickly made clear that ?Oasis are done; this is something new? and that they had songs ready and waiting to be recorded. Once they were released he was ?Feeling a million percent confident that they would be better than Oasis? 

 

The band started by releasing two promotional singles the first ?Bring The Light? was released on November 15th 2010 and the second ?Four Letter Word? was released on the 26th December 2010 - both records saw decent success. 

 

Beady Eye?s first commercial single ?The Roller? released in January 2011 was the sole single for their upcoming debut LP ?Different Gear, Still Speeding?. The album would release in February to generally favourable reviews showing Liam?s claims of being better than Oasis to hold some weight at the time. The band would release a cover version of the song ?Across The Universe? with all proceeds going to The British Red Cross Japanese Tsunami Appeal. This was after they played a relief concert for the Japanese tsunami at The Brixton Academy organised by Gallagher. 

 

Beady Eye would power on through to 2013 where they would release their second studio album ?BE? and while this album was still successful it didn?t quite strike a chord with fans and critics like their previous effort with some liking the progression of the band and some criticising lyrical content and the production on the album.  After just over a year of touring with the record Laim would make a statement on the 25th of October 2014 saying that Beady Eye had disbanded. 

 

The Return Of Liam Gallagher And Career Renaissance

 

After the split of Beady Eye in 2014 it was radio silence on the music front for Liam Gallagher - he did nothing in 2015 and in 2016, after being asked about starting a solo career, he scoffed at the idea very much showing a disdain for it so to the surprise of many later that same year in an interview Liam would say he will  be releasing solo songs at some point in 2017.  As fans patiently waited to see what was going to come of this solo work, they were rewarded with the announcement of the release of his debut solo album named ?As You Were? with a lead single from the album ?Wall Of Glass?.. The song was a huge success for Gallagher with the single being certified gold in the UK.  Following this success, Gallagher would play his first solo gig at the Ritz in Manchester with all the proceeds going to the help victims of the terror attack that had happened that year.  A few months later he would also appear at the One Love Manchester benefit concert to play some songs again to raise money for the same cause.

 

On the 6th of October 2017 Liam Gallagher's much awaited debut solo album ?As You Were? would be released and this would mark Liam Gallagher?s musical return seeing the album debut at number one in the UK and outsold all the top ten albums in the UK Album Charts put together.  It was certified gold within a week of release with singles ?Wall Of Glass?, ?Greedy Soul? and ?For What It?s Worth? showing a broad spectrum of music with fans and critics alike hailing it as Liam?s true come back after Oasis. 

 

With the success of ?As You Were? Liam would begin working on new music and on the 24th of May that year would announce his next album would be titled  ?Why Me? Why Not? and a month later would release the lead single ?Shockwave?. On the 3rd of August 2019 Gallagher would perform an MTV Unplugged Acoustic set at Hull City Hall seeing the live debut of much of his second album?s material including songs ?One Of Us? and ?Now That I?ve Found You?. ?Why Me? Why Not? would be released in late September 2019 to more commercial and critical acclaim becoming another number one album for Gallagher since going solo. 

 

2020 would roll round and due to the pandemic that started in March that year, Liam had to postpone shows.  He would however release a single titled ?All You?re Dreaming Of? again a charity single with all proceeds going to Action For Children.  As things started to get back to normal in the world Gallagher held a free gig for NHS staff after their work and services during the pandemic, he would also release an album version of his MTV Unplugged performance which would become his third album and again debut at number one in the UK. 

 

Although always labelled as having a big ego, Liam Gallagher has collaborated with a wide range of other artists as guest vocalist including Death In Vegas, The Seahorses, The Verve and more recently releasing the single ?C?mon People (We?re Making It Now)? alongside Richard Ashcroft.

 

In 2022 Gallagher is scheduled to release a new studio album titled ?C?mon You Know? as well as a live album titled ?Down By The River Thames?.

 

Will They Won?t They? 

Since the Gallagher brothers' very public fall out and subsequent feud following the split of Oasis in 2009, the question from every fan of Liam, Noel, Oasis or all of these has been will they ever re-unite as a band even just for one last gig.  There had been nothing but ?no? from both parties for the longest time but with some attempts from Liam to rekindle the flame, 2020 saw Noel release a previously unreleased demo titled ?Don?t Stop? as Oasis and with the success of their 2021 film and live album ?Knebworth 1996?, is this now the time to get back to being Oasis or will the Gallagher?s remain one of the biggest what ifs in music? 

 

Legacy Lives Forever 

Regardless of the what ifs there is seemingly no sign of success stopping for the younger Gallagher brother.  Keeping that rock and roll star attitude alive and well with every new album, single or charity gig, Liam Gallagher has truly proven that Oasis wasn?t his one and only success and may this success ?Live Forever?.