Liam Gallagher

William John Paul Gallagher (born September 21, 1972), better known to the world as Liam Gallagher is the vocalist, and sometime tambourine player, of Britpop band Oasis, known 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 developed himself as a standalone songwriter alongside Noel.

Lead Singer

Liam is well known for his original style of singing and his stage presence. Grating, arrogant and often nasal, Liam's voice in the Oasis tracks is recognisable. 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 "shines" in the Beatles song "Rain"). 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?"

Related Topics:
Rain - Piiiiiint-ah

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Liam's stage presence has also been both praised and derided, with some commentators stating that he obviously copies the styles of Ian Brown and Richard Ashcroft. He is famed for going against rock and roll tradition by rarely touching the microphone or its stand. Instead, he stands, hands behind back, leaning towards the microphone in the same way that Brown and Ashcroft do. This recognisable singing pose has been suggested by some as a main reason for his distinctive vocals, which have become something of an Oasis trademark. However, whilst this style has been praised for enhancing Liam's singing, it may also be damaging his voice as it is not good for the vocal chords.

Related Topics:
Ian Brown - Richard Ashcroft - Rock and roll - Microphone - Vocal chords

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The strain on Liam's voice has meant that, while on first three albums Noel would sing lead vocals on no more than one album track, and on some of the B-sides, the later two Oasis albums saw him take a more active role as a lead vocalist in the band. This could be explained as an attempt to preserve Liam?s voice, which has grown more nasal and grating from his years with Oasis. As a tongue-in-cheek reference to this, Liam gives thanks to the orange juice consumed during the Heathen Chemistry sessions on the album sleeve.

Related Topics:
Orange juice - Heathen Chemistry

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This strain hindered his singing and his role in the band. Thus, following the harsh critical reaction of Oasis' performance at Glastonbury 2004, where the pain made him give up while the band were performing "Stop Crying Your Heart Out", he decided to approach noted vocal teacher Lisa Garvey in Autumn 2004 because of his voice deterioration. According to her, Liam was forced to quit cigarettes and raise the microphone stand while singing, because the way he used to lean with his head up put a lot of stress on his larynx. This progress is evident on Oasis' latest album Don't Believe the Truth as well as on the concerts supporting the new record.

Related Topics:
Glastonbury 2004 - Stop Crying Your Heart Out - Don't Believe the Truth

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