Do you know Britpop's Bad Boy? Here are a few facts about the - Guitarist, singer and songwriter Noel Gallagher:
(Photo: Matt McNulty)
1. He was born into an Irish Catholic family in Manchester England on 29 May 1967, named Noel Thomas David Gallagher.
2. He is the brother of Liam Gallagher five years his junior.
3. Noel and his brother had a difficult childhood. Their alcoholic father used to beat them. Noel developed a speech problem as a result.
4. In his youth he and his brother socialized with criminals and hooligan gangs in Manchester. They often got involved with the law enforcement authorities, when at the age of 13 Noel was arrested for theft.
5. At exactly the same age he started teaching himself to play the guitar that his father gave him from listening to songs on the radio and watching TV, Noel is left-handed but plays the guitar like a right-hander.
6. The band that influenced him the most was "The Smiths", also from Manchester. He watched them in 1983 on the show Top of the Pop performing the song "This Charming Man" from their debut album, and immediately realized he wanted to resemble guitarist Johnny Marr.
7. He was expelled from school at the age of 15 and started working for a construction company. After being injured in the construction work, he moved to a position in the company's logistics warehouse, where he claims to have written at least three songs that will find their way to Oasis' first album.
8. In 1988 he met guitarist Graham Lambert from the band "Inspiral Carpets" during a performance of the Stone "Roses".
9. When he heard that the singer of "Inspiral Carpets" had left he tried to get accepted into the band in his place, but he did not pass the audition. He eventually became a band technician and stage performer at the age of 21.
10. In 1991 when Noel returned with the "Inspiral Carpets" from a US tour, he discovered that his brother Liam had become a singer for the band "The Rain".
11. Liam invited him to join the band and Noel agreed on the condition that he would gain control of the band's artistic side and become its sole songwriter. The band later changed its name to "Oasis". Indeed Noel is almost the exclusive writer of all Oasis songs. The desire to control the band and write all its songs earned Noel the nickname "The Chief".
(Photo: Steve Double)
12. In 1993 the band managed to impress the director of the record company "Creation" who was present at their performance. He sent their tape to "Sony Records" and shortly thereafter the band had signed a contract to release six albums.
13. The band's debut album "Definitely Maybe" was released in August 1994. It received positive reviews and became the best-selling debut album in the UK at the time. Noel claimed that the first hit and single from it was "Supersonic", he wrote while recording without prior preparation.
14. Johnny Mar "The Smiths" guitarist was present at one of the band's first appearances. Noel turned to Mar after the show and asked for feedback. Mar replied that it takes him too long to tune the guitar between songs and Noel said it was because he has no money for a good guitar. It touched Mar who decided to give him as a gift a 1960 Gibson Les Paul guitar he had received from Pete Townshend. Unfortunately Noel managed to break the guitar when he pushed one of the fans off stage. When Johnny Mar heard about it, he quickly gave Noel another guitar and not just a guitar, the one he wrote the song "Big Mouth Strike Again" on.
15. Already during the band's first tour in the US, problems began to rise between Noel and his brother Liam. At the end of the band's performance in Los Angeles and after a serious quarrel, Noel simply got up and left the band without saying a word, boarded a plane and flew to San Francisco.
(Photo: Stefan de Batselier)
16. In that hotel and after a wild night with a local girl he wrote the song "Talk Tonight" which was later released as a side song to the song "Some Might Say".
17. Another reason for leaving was the fact that Noel thought the American audience was soaked in grunge and metal and just did not understand them. He claims he wrote the hit "Live Forever" to give the pessimistic grunge some optimism.
18. Eventually the band director and his brother Liam convinced him to return to the band and Noel joined the band for the rest of the tour in Minneapolis.
19. Noel's return to the band heralded a tremendous burst of writing that was well expressed in the songs of the band's second album (What's the Story) Morning Glory ?, which was released in 1995 and included many hits, including Some Might Say, Wonderwall, Don't Look Back in Anger, Roll with It, Champagne Supernova and more.
20. Noel returned a favor to Paul Waller when he played acoustic guitar in the song "I Walk on Gilded Splinters" released in 1995. He will return to collaborate with Waller in 2002 on the album "Illumination" where he also played drums, percussion and bass guitar, on the album "22 Dreams" There he played bass, piano on the song "Echoes Round the Sun" as well as on the album "Sonik Kicks" which was released in 2012.
21. Oasis has become the hottest thing in the UK and this album has become the fifth best selling album in the UK of all time.
22. In an interview with Select magazine, Noel stated that the song "Wonderwall" was written about his girlfriend at the time, Meg Mathews.
He also wanted to sing it but Liam insisted on it and also sang it at last.
23. About an hour before the band's appearance on "MTV Unplugged" in 1996, the band announced that Liam would not be able to perform due to what was advertised as "Sore Throat". Noel performed all the singing roles in his place while Liam watched the show from a balcony overlooking the stage.
24. Later on the band continued to tour without Liam as Noel performed all the singing roles. This created a rumor mill as to the real reason why Liam did not take the stage and did not join the tour.
25. Later that year Liam joined the band during its performance at the "MTV Awards". Liam deliberately faked and spit beer and saliva on stage.
26. In August 1996, Noel and the band performed two consecutive sold-out shows at Knebworth in front of 250,000 spectators.
27. The band's third album "Be Here Now" was released in 1997 and included hits such as Stand by Me, All Around the World and Don't Go Away. Also in this case Noel wrote all the songs on the album.
28. That same year Noel participated in singing the song "Setting Sun" by "The Chemical Brothers." Noel will return to collaborate with them in 1999 on the song "Let Forever Be".
29. After the release of the album "Be Here Now" Noel began to experience anxiety attacks, depression, and paranoia, which along with drugs led him to write the song "Gas Panic!" Which was included on the band's fourth album "Standing on the Shoulder of Giants" released in 2000. On this album Noel wrote all the songs except one written by his brother Liam. The album featured electronic influences, psychedelia and Indian music.
30. Noel will release with Oasis three more albums "Heathen Chemistry" from 2002, "Don't Believe the Truth" from 2005 and "Dig Out Your Soul" from 2008.
31. In 2004 Noel will collaborate with another member - "Ian Brown" on the song "Keep What Ya Got" from his fourth album "Solarized".
32. The frictions between Liam and Noel culminated in August 2009 before the band performed at the "Rock en Seine" Festival. The quarrel between them became physical as Liam smashed Noel's guitar. The show of course did not take place, and Noel later announced that he was leaving the band.
33. Noel's first appearance outside the Oasis was held at the Royal Albert Hall on 25 March 2010.
34. At the same time, Noel was working on his first solo album "Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds" which was released in October 2011. The name of the project came from a combination of the Jefferson Airline song - "High Flying Bird". And from there Peter Green's band "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac"
35. The song that signed the album was "Stop the Clocks". A song recorded for Oasis' sixth album - "Don't Believe the Truth" from 2004, but finally did not get there. He even did not appear on the band's compilation album of the same name since 2006.
36. In 2012 Noel and his band released their first EP - "Songs from the Great White North"....
37. Noel later released two more studio albums with his project. "Chasing Yesterday" in 2015
And "Who Built the Moon?" From 2017.
38. In 2015, Noel participated in "Coldplay's" "Up & Up" song from the seventh album "A Head Full Of Dreams".
39. In 2019 Noel released with his project two EPs, the first "Black Star Dancing"
And the other "This Is The Place."
40. In March 2020, Noel released the EP called "Blue Moon Rising" under "Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds" and he is releasing his 4th album "Council Skies" on June 2, 2023.
41. Noel is known as one who does not "weigh words," he simply says what he thinks. This trait led him to quarrel with quite a few celebrities, including Damon Albarn, Jay-Z and Phil Collins.
42. Despite the great conflict with Damon Albarn and "Blur", Noel was able to come to terms with it. He even appeared with him at the Teenage Cancer Trust charity show performing "Blur"'s song Tender. Gallagher later appeared in background vocals in "Gorillaz's" song "We Got the Power", Albarn's side project. He will return to collaborate with the Gorillas in 2017 on the song We Got the Power.