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William John Paul Gallagher (born September 21, 1972, Longsight, Manchester) is the lead vocalist for the band Oasis. He is famous for his erratic behaviour, distinctive singing style and abrasive attitude. Although his brother Noel Gallagher writes the majority of the band's songs, in recent years Liam has increasingly developed himself as a songwriter, and has contributed songs for the most recent albums of the band.
Despite differing opinions on his antics, Liam was one of the figureheads of the britpop movement in the 1990s and remains one of the most recognisable and charismatic characters in modern British music.
Lead Singer
Liam is well known for his original style of singing, and his voice on Oasis tracks is instantly recognisable. Liam once compared his vocal style to a blend of John Lennon and John Lydon. Noel has hinted that he uses certain words regularly in his songs because of the way Liam pronounces them when he sings. For example, Noel has included the word 'shine' in several songs because Liam famously sings it as 'Sheee-yienn-ah' (probably influenced in part by John Lennon's protracted, nasal phrasing on words such as "shiiiine" in the Beatles song "Rain" and John Lennon's song "Instant Karma") "We all shiiiiine on" Noel jokes that Liam now does this all the time, imitating Liam phoning him up and asking "D'yer wanna go for a piiiiiint-ah?"
The UK based music magazine NME have regularly proclaimed Liam as the "greatest British vocalist of the past 25 years."
Liam's stage presence has been both praised and derided. He is famed for going against rock and roll tradition by rarely touching the microphone or its stand. Instead, he stands, hands behind back or in his pockets, with a bent knee and sideways bend at the waist, his neck bent upwards towards an angled-down microphone. This recognisable singing pose has been suggested by some as a contributing factor to his distinctive vocals.
But many years of singing in that pose, along with years of heavy smoking and drinking may have taken their toll, with many fans feeling Gallagher's voice may now lack the range and power he exhibited in his youth. Although it is a subject regularly debated and argued about by Oasis fans, neither Liam or Noel Gallagher have made much public comment about it, although in a BBC interview on June 2002, Liam admitted he couldn't sing certain older songs live "because I'm not 21 these days", and in December 2005 Noel expressed frustration at the lack of variation in live setlists because "We draw up a list of songs we'd like to play, Liam crosses them all off, and then he draws up a list of songs that he's capable of singing, and then we kind of look at it and go 'but that's the fucking same as last time'."
Songwriting
Liam's first known dabbles into songwriting came in the early days of Oasis, before Noel Gallagher joined. Liam and Bonehead co-wrote a handful of songs, Liam writing the words and Bonehead writing the music, including "Take Me" and "Life In Vain" (both available on bootlegs). Of these songs, only "Take Me" met the Noel Gallagher seal of approval, with his wish to re-record and release it being turned down by the writers.
Liam also co-wrote a song (titled "Love Me and Leave Me") with former Stone Roses guitarist and songwriter John Squire for The Seahorses' debut album in 1997.
With 2000's Standing on the Shoulder of Giants came a slight relaxation in Noel's songwriting monopoly. Liam's first successful attempt to produce a song adequate for an Oasis album was "Little James", written about his stepson James. The song was ridiculed by a lot of fans and critics who mocked it's childlike rhyme scheme and heavy Beatles influence.
This more democratic approach to songwriting, save Liam further chances to showcase his abilities in this particular area, with three songs being included on 2002's Heathen Chemistry; a "deep-thinking" rocking ballad, "Born on a Different Cloud", the sneering rocker "Better Man" and the mellow, acoustic "Songbird", written for his fiancée Nicole Appleton. Noel claimed that his brother had written five songs for the Heathen Chemistry sessions and from these they took the best three. His tunes, along with the record, received a much warmer reception from fans and high sales, despite receiving bad reviews from critics again.
The latest Oasis album, 2005's Don't Believe the Truth, features a further three of Liam's songs - "The Meaning of Soul", "Love Like A Bomb" and "Guess God Thinks I'm Abel". The second is described by Noel as "Songbird's bigger brother" and a "song for the ladies", while the latter - as a song in the vein of "Born On A Different Cloud", but without the guitars. Another Liam song is the acoustic ballad "Won't Let You Down" - also inspired by Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance" - which appeared on the single "Lyla". Noel stressed that most of the batch of 70 tunes written for the turbulent Don't Believe the Truth sessions were written single-handedly by Liam. Another new Liam-written song was released as a b-side to the single, "The Importance Of Being Idle". The song, entitled "Pass Me Down The Wine", features an acoustic-led melody in the vein of "Songbird".
However, in an interview following the release of Don't Believe the Truth, Liam stated that he doesn't believe he is improving as a songwriter and often needs guitarist Gem Archer's assistance. As a consequence, Gem is credited as co-writer of "Love Like A Bomb" on the new album. He commented "Gem helps me out a lot, I struggle with lyrics sometimes... I can't find the words. The words I find hard 'cos I'm fucking thick."
A new Liam song "The Boy With The Blues" was planned for a stand-alone single release in Summer 2006, but the planned recording sessions for the song didn't take place.
Source: Wikpedia
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