Who is Noel Gallagher?
Short Answer:
Songwriter. Guitarist. Control freak. Chief.
Long Answer:
Full Name
Noel Thomas David Gallagher.
Born
29 May 1967, Longsight, Manchester. Five years older, ten years grumpier.
Occupation
Guitarist, songwriter, lyricist. Quietly furious musical director of the Britpop circus. Known to himself and, begrudgingly, others as The Chief.
Known For
Writing most of Oasis. Then quitting Oasis. Then sniping at Oasis from a safe distance.
Now fronts Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. The name sounds like a band your uncle would quite like. Somehow still works.
Voice
Salford-accented sarcasm with occasional tenderness. Less velvet, more sandpaper.
Can’t sing like Liam. Wrote the songs so he didn’t have to.
Family
Brother: Liam Gallagher. Human hand grenade. Former bandmate. Lifelong pain in the arse.
Children: Anaïs, Donovan, and Sonny.
Marriages: Meg Mathews (peak Britpop). Later Sara MacDonald (quieter phase, still stylish).
Feud Status: Ongoing. Unresolved. Probably eternal.
Career Highlights
Wrote Live Forever, Don't Look Back in Anger, and Champagne Supernova.
Played Knebworth without blinking.
Survived the rise, the fall, the Blur rivalry, and the late-‘90s cocaine deluge.
Left Oasis in 2009 with one last great quote and a slammed door.
High Flying Birds launched 2011. Surprisingly consistent output ever since. Less bangers. More grown-up melancholy.
Signature Look
Sunglasses indoors. Designer jackets. Haircut last seen in 1969 but somehow timeless.
Signature Move
Standing still. Arms crossed. The face of a man silently rewriting your song in his head.
Public Image
The clever one. The bitter one. The one who knows how the chorus goes.
Talks like a pub philosopher who’s just finished his fourth pint and is about to ruin the mood.
Occasionally lets slip he loves his brother. Immediately regrets it.
Legacy
Gave the country a soundtrack it didn’t know it needed.
Proved that melody mattered more than mayhem.
Spent thirty years writing songs about dreams. Then slowly turned into the bloke who tells you not to chase them.
