Artist of the Month: Liam Gallagher

by: Carlos Figueroa

William John Paul "Liam" Gallagher (born 21 September 1972 in Burnage, Manchester) is an English musician and songwriter best known as the lead singer, and occasional instrumentalist, of English rock band Oasis. One of the figureheads of the 1990s Britpop movement, Gallagher's erratic behavior, 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 elder brother Noel Gallagher wrote the majority of Oasis's songs, Liam has penned the singles "Songbird" and "I'm Outta Time", along with a number of album tracks and B-sides.

Since Noel Gallagher's departure from Oasis in August 2009, Liam has said he will continue making music with ex-Oasis members Gem Archer, Andy Bell, drummer Chris Sharrock and keyboard player Jay Darlington.

Gallagher was born in Burnage, Manchester, and is the third and final child of Irish parents Thomas and Peggy Gallagher. Thomas was often violently abusive to his family. 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 - his true inspiration in life coming from his love of Manchester City Football Club. When Liam was 10, Peggy took the boys and moved away from Tommy. Although Liam maintained sporadic contact with his father throughout his teens, he says that today 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 room. The Gallagher brothers were troubled children, especially in their teens. Liam was expelled from school at age 15 for fighting, and would often steal bicycles from local shops.

Noel Gallagher has said that Liam showed little interest in music until his late teens. Liam became confident in his abilities to sing and began listening to bands like The Stone Roses, The Who, The Kinks, The Jam, T.Rex and The Beatles. In the process he forged a life-long obsession with John Lennon; Liam would later claim to be Lennon re-incarnated. When school friend Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan, invited Gallagher to join his band, The Rain, as a vocalist, he agreed.

Liam was the band's co-song writer, along with guitarist Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs. Noel Gallagher has since openly mocked this writing partnership, describing them as being "just awful"; even Liam admits that "We were shit". The band only rehearsed one day a week and didn't get many gigs. It was after one of their rare shows in 1992, that Noel, having recently returned from touring America as a roadie with Inspiral Carpets, saw them perform. Although Noel disliked the band, Liam asked him to join and Noel agreed on the condition that he be the sole songwriter, ending Liam and Bonehead's songwriting partnership. Noel later went on to say "If you think some of my early stuff is bad, you should have heard the stuff that those two were coming out with." It was around this time that Liam pushed for the band name to change to Oasis.

Liam's voice has been compared to a blend of John Lennon and John Lydon while Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine dubbed him "the best singer in rock". In 2006, Q magazine voted Gallagher the 11th best singer of all time, citing songs such as "Live Forever", "Lyla", "Don't Go Away" and "Champagne Supernova" as examples of his best work.

Since the early days of Oasis, Liam Gallagher's stage presence has become iconic in its own right. His "singing pose" is instantly recognisable, and entails him standing with a bent knee, body bent towards one side, hands either clasped behind his back, down by his side or in rarer occasions in his front pockets, with his neck craning up towards a mic that is set high and angled downwards. Gallagher also ensures that the microphone comes in the closest contact with him between his upper lip and nose, rather than directly in front of the mouth as is the case with most singers. On the Definitely Maybe DVD, Gallagher revealed that the reason he sings with his arms behind his back is because it allows him to project more power through his voice. In very early Oasis shows until about 1994, Gallagher can be seen touching the microphone with one hand, but still employing his usual singing posture with the rest of his body.

*On a side note, I decided to simply change the name of the post this time simply because of time reasons. It WILL NOT become a trend! For future Artists of the Month, they will get a small little post honoring them as the Artist of the Month and a slideshow for them too.