Liam Gallagher

William John Paul "Liam" Gallagher (born 21 September 1972) is an English singer and songwriter. He rose to fame as the lead singer of the rock band Oasis, and later as the singer of Beady Eye, before performing as a solo artist after the dissolution of both previous bands. His erratic behaviour, distinctive singing style, and abrasive attitude have been the subject of commentary in the press; he remains one of the most recognisable figures in modern British music. Although his older brother Noel wrote the majority of Oasis' songs, Liam penned the singles "Songbird" and "I'm Outta Time", along with a string of album tracks and B-sides.

Noel departed Oasis in 2009 and formed Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, while Liam continued with the other former members of Oasis under the Beady Eye name until they disbanded in 2014. His debut solo album As You Were was released 6 October 2017. Gallagher was voted the greatest frontman of all time in a 2010 reader poll by Q magazine. William John Paul Gallagher was born in Burnage, Manchester, to Irish parents Thomas and Peggy Gallagher.

Liam was abused by his father as a child, and although his older brothers Noel and Paul took the most abuse, Liam has said that the abuse affected him deeply and inspired him to become an artist. When Liam was 10, Peggy took the boys and moved away from Thomas (she divorced him in 1986). Although Liam maintained sporadic contact with his father throughout his teens, he has said that their issues remain unresolved. Paul and Noel often contend that even from a young age, Liam went out of his way to antagonise people, especially Noel, with whom he shared a bedroom.

The Gallagher brothers were troubled, especially in their mid-teens. Liam often stole bicycles from local shops. He attended St. Bernard's RC Primary School until age 11, then The Barlow RC High School in Didsbury; despite common reports that he was expelled at age 16 for fighting, Liam was actually suspended for three months.

He then returned to school, where he completed his last term in Spring 1990. He gained 4 GCSEs. Noel has said that Liam showed little interest in music until his late teens, also that Liam was better looking than him, a better singer, had better clothes and could pull off a parka jacket better. Gallagher became confident in his ability to sing and began listening to bands like the Beatles, the Stone Roses, the Who, the Kinks, the Jam, and T.Rex.

In the process he forged a lifelong obsession with former Beatles singer/songwriter John Lennon; Liam would later sarcastically claim to be Lennon re-incarnated, despite being born eight years prior to Lennon's death. On 26 July 2015 Gallagher appeared at an Irish pub in Charlestown, County Mayo playing a number of songs, including an early version of his new song 'Bold', in front of pub guests with an acoustic guitar. However, on 4 January 2016, he said on Twitter that he has no plans to pursue a solo career, writing, "Solo record are you fucking tripping dickhead im not a cunt LG X." However, in a 2016 interview with Q Magazine, he officially announced he would be releasing songs in 2017 although he doesn't consider it a solo career, advising they're just songs that he has written over the years that he'd like to release. Gallagher made reference to the previously mentioned tweet, by stating "It's official I'm a cunt LG x" via Twitter.

A solo appearance at Norwegian festival Bergenfest in 2017 was announced in November 2016, with other festival appearances for summer 2017 later confirmed. It was announced in March 2017 that the debut solo album was to be titled As You Were. On 26 May 2017, he announced the release of his solo debut single "Wall of Glass" on 1 June 2017, however it was released a day earlier on 31 May with an accompanying music video. In the same month, Gallagher performed his first solo concert at the Ritz in Manchester with all proceeds going to victims of the Manchester terror attack.

On 4 June 2017, Gallagher made a surprise appearance at the One Love Manchester benefit concert where he played "Rock 'N' Roll Star", "Wall of Glass" and "Live Forever" with Coldplay's Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland. Gallagher performed at the Rock am Ring festival in Germany in June 2017. In the same month he performed at the Pinkpop festival in the Netherlands. After a management dispute in early 2017, Gallagher has been represented by his nephew, Australian born Daniel Nicholas.

Gallagher performed at Glastonbury in June 2017. During the set he sang "Don't Look Back in Anger" for the first time, dedicating his performance to the victims of the recent Manchester and London terror attacks and the Grenfell Tower fire. On 30 June 2017, he released his second solo single "Chinatown". In July 2017, he performed at the Exit festival in Serbia and Benicassim festival in Spain.

On 3 August 2017, Gallagher performed at Lollapalooza festival in Chicago and left the stage in the middle of a song after performing for only 20 minutes. He later apologized on Twitter and claimed he had vocal problems. On 10 August 2017 "For What It's Worth" was released, a song Gallagher described as an "apology" saying "...I've made a lot of mistakes...I guess it is an apology to whoever. I've pissed a lot of people off".

He performed this song on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on 14 August 2017.