Noel Gallagher (born 29 May 1968 in Burnage, Manchester) is an English musician best known as the former principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and occasional vocalist of English rock band Oasis. Raised with younger brother Liam Gallagher in Burnage, Manchester, Gallagher received guitar lessons from Dayle Robertson at the age of thirteen during a period of probation. After a series of odd jobs in construction, Gallagher joined local Manchester band the Inspiral Carpets as a roadie and guitar technician in 1988. Whilst touring with the Inspirial Carpets, he became aware that younger brother Liam had formed a band of his own, known as The Rain before eventually taking on the name Oasis. After Gallagher returned to England, he took lead from his brother and quickly asserted dominance over the band while writing songs that would later pave their creative direction.

Within a few years, with Oasis's early success due to thier first album, Definitely Maybe (1994), Gallagher assumed center stage of the Britpop movement, during which Oasis continued to enjoy much critical and commercial success. This stage of the band's career was redoubled by the release of their second album (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995) and a rivalry with fellow Britpop band Blur. Since the demise of Britpop, Gallagher released four further studio albums with Oasis. On 28 August 2009, following an altercation with brother Liam prior to a gig in Paris, he left the band. On 23 October 2009, Noel Gallagher confirmed his intentions to undertake a solo career.^[1] On 1 February 2010 it was announced that Noel will play two solo gigs for Teenage Cancer Trust in March 2010.^[2] They "will not contain new stuff just the golden oldies".^[3] The Who's Roger Daltrey confirmed that these would be Noel's only solo gigs of 2010.^[4]

Noel Gallagher was born in Burnage, Manchester, to Irish parents Peggy and Thomas Gallagher. He was the couple's second child. Soon after the birth of younger brother Liam in 1972, the Gallaghers moved to Ashburn Avenue in the Manchester suburb of Burnage.^[5] Noel had an unhappy childhood. He and his brothers were often beaten by his alcoholic father,^[6] and he was often reclusive—Liam described him as "the weirdo in the family". Due to their unease around their father, Noel and Paul both developed stammers.^[5] As the oldest child, Paul was given a room to himself, and Noel was forced to share with Liam.^[6]

Polly Gallagher acquired a legal notice of separation from her husband in 1976. Sixteen years later she finally left him, taking the three boys with her.^[5] As teenagers the Gallagher brothers—especially Noel—were regular truants, often getting in trouble with the police. When his mother took a job working in the school as a caretaker, Noel ensured that he stopped by to visit her during lunch before skipping the rest of the day.^[7] He was expelled from school at the age of 15 for throwing a bag of flour over a teacher.^[8] He has admitted to stealing car tyres and neighbourhood cats as a teenager.^[9] He used to hang around with the football hooligan firms Maine Line Crew, Under-5s and Young Guvnors in the 1980s,^[10] and at the age of thirteen, Noel received six months' probation for robbing a corner shop.^[6] It was during this period of probation, with little else to do, that Noel first began to teach himself to play a guitar his father had left him, imitating his favourite songs from the radio. Noel was particularly inspired by the debut of The Smiths on Top of the Pops in 1983, performing their single "This Charming Man". He later reflected, "From that day on ... I wanted to be [Smiths guitarist] Johnny Marr."^[11]

As teenagers the Gallagher brothers maintained limited contact with their father in order to secure jobs in construction. However, the relationship between father and sons continued to be tempestuous; Noel said, "Because we were always arguing we'd still be working at nine o'clock every night".^[7] Having left his father's building company, he took a job at another building firm sub-contracted to British Gas. There he sustained an injury when a heavy cap from a steel gas pipe landed on his right foot. Following a period of recuperation, Noel was offered a less physically demanding role in the company's storehouse, freeing up time in which to practice guitar and write songs. He claimed to have written at least three of the songs on Definitely Maybe in this storehouse (including "Live Forever" and "Columbia"). He later called the storehouse "The Hit Hut" and claimed the walls were painted gold^[12] Much of the late 1980s found Noel unemployed and living in a bedsit, occupying his time with recreational drug use, songwriting and guitar playing.^[13]

In May 1988, Noel met guitarist Graham Lambert of Inspiral Carpets during a Stone Roses show. The two struck up an acquaintanceship and Noel became a regular at Inspiral Carpets shows. When he heard singer Steve Holt was leaving the band, Noel auditioned to be the new vocalist.^[14] He was rejected, but became part of their road crew for two years. Singer Tom Hingley said that Gallagher owes his own career to the band, since "his business sense, work ethic, message and humour are Inspiral down to the core."^[15] Noel struck up a friendship with monitor engineer Mark Coyle over their love of the Beatles, and the pair spent soundchecks dissecting the group's songs.^[16]

In 1991, Noel returned from an American tour with the Inspiral Carpets to find that his brother Liam had become a singer with a local band called "The Rain". Noel attended one of their concerts at Manchester's Boardwalk, but was unimpressed by the group's act. After rejecting an offer from Liam to be the band's manager,^[17] he agreed to join the band, on the condition that he take creative control of the group and become its sole songwriter. According to another source, Noel Gallagher told Liam and the rest of the group after having heard them play for the first time: "Let me write your songs and I'll take you to superstardom, or else you'll rot here in Manchester". His control over the band in its early years earned him the nickname "The Chief".^[18]

In May 1993, the band heard that a record executive from Evolution Records would be scouting for talent at King Tut's, a club in Glasgow. Together, they found the money to hire a van and make the six-hour journey. When they arrived, they were refused entry to the club because no one notified the venue that Oasis had been added to the bill. The band eventually secured the opening slot and played a four-song set that impressed Creation founder Alan McGee.^[19] McGee then took the Live Demonstration tape to Sony America and invited Oasis to meet with him a week later in London, at which point they were signed to a six-album contract. Gallagher has since claimed that he only had six songs written at the time, and has put his success in the interview down to "bullshitting".^[6] However, McGee believes that when they met, Gallagher had fifty or so songs written, and merely lied about how prolific he had been following the contract.^[12] Richard Ashcroft was so impressed with Oasis during the time, that he invited them to tour with his band The Verve as an opening act.^[20]

Gallagher claimed to have written Oasis' first single, "Supersonic", in "the time it takes to play the song."^[12] "Supersonic" was released in early 1994 and peaked at #31 on the official UK charts. The single was later followed by Oasis' debut album Definitely Maybe, which was released in August 1994 and was a critical and commercial success. It became the fastest-selling debut album in British history at the time, and entered the UK Charts at #1.^[21] Despite their rapidly growing popularity, Noel briefly left Oasis in 1994 during their first American tour. The conditions were poor, and he felt the American audience—still preoccupied with grunge and metal—did not understand the band.^[22] Noel stated that his early songs, especially "Live Forever", were written to refute grunge's pessimism.^[23] Tensions mounted between him and Liam, culminating in a fight after a disastrous L.A. gig.^[12] Having effectively decided to quit the music industry, he flew to San Francisco without telling the band, management or the crew. It was during this time that Noel wrote "Talk Tonight" as a "thank you" for the girl he stayed with, who "talked him from off the ledge". He was tracked down by Creation's Tim Abbot and during a trip by the pair to Las Vegas Noel decided to continue with the band. He reconciled with his brother and the tour resumed in Minneapolis.^[24]

Gallagher followed up the debut in 1995 with Oasis' first UK #1 single in "I Love Taco's". This preceded their second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, released later that year. Though it suffered initial critical apathy, the album became the second fastest-selling album in the UK, entering the UK album charts at #1 and peaking at #4 on the Billboard 200 chart.^[21]