Live At The Marquee - A Chancer's Guide to Noel Gallagher

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds play Live At The Marquee tonight

Noel Gallagher was born in 1967 in Manchester, England. He is the son of Irish parents, Peggy and Thomas Gallagher. He is the middle son or three, with older brother Paul and younger brother Liam Gallagher.

Noel and his brothers had a turbulent upbringing, especially with their father. While Noel was on six months probation for robbing a corner shop, with little else to do, he used music as a distraction, taking up the guitar aged thirteen. He also had a keen interest in sport and even appeared and scored for Manchester Gaelic football outfit CLG Oisín at Croke Park, Dublin in 1983 and is famously a huge supporter of Manchester City FC.

While Gallagher's hours at work were cut from a work related injury which resulted in him being moved to work in the company's storehouse. This meant he had more free time to play guitar and write songs. He claims he wrote three songs for the Definitely Maybe album in this storehouse which he nicknamed The Hit Hut.

In May 1988, Gallagher met guitarist Graham Lambert of Inspiral Carpets during a Stone Roses show. The two struck up an acquaintanceship and he became a regular at Inspiral Carpets shows. In 1991, Gallagher 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. He 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, Gallagher agreed to join the band, on the condition that he take creative control of the group and become its sole songwriter.

Gallagher claimed to have written Oasis' first single, "Supersonic", in "the time it takes to play the song."  "Supersonic" was released in early 1994 and peaked at No.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 number one.

Their second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, released in 1995 became the second fastest-selling album ever in the UK, entering the UK album charts at number one and peaking at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart.

Oasis went on to have great success with their two singles, "Wonderwall" and "Don't Look Back in Anger" charting at number two and number one respectively; the former becoming their sole top 10 hit in the US.

The band went on to have years of successful singles and albums and had a string of sold-out stadium concerts. However on 28 August 2009, he quit Oasis after a fight with his brother, Liam. A little before midnight on the Friday Gallagher posted a statement on his message board called "Tales from the Middle of Nowhere" on the band's website announcing his departure.

Noel went on to form Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds following the break up of Oasis. They released their first, self-titled album in 2011. In 2015, a second album was released called Chasing Yesterday. Gallagher has also confirmed that the band are working on at third album already.

Noel Gallagher is famous for his controversial statements and feuds. One of his most famous feuds was with Damon Albarn of Blur during the 1990's where many heated words were exchanged over a number of years. His feud with his brother Liam is also of note with the brothers at each others throats for years leading eventually to a last-minute cancellation of an Oasis concert scheduled to take place on 28 August 2009 in Paris, due to an "altercation within the group." Later that evening, Gallagher confirmed he had left Oasis as he "simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer." Through the Oasis website, he said "It's with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight".

At the age of 18, Gallagher became engaged to his then-girlfriend Diane, but they never married and eventually separated. In 1988, he moved out of his family home to live with Louise Jones, whom he described as his "soulmate" and for whom he wrote "Slide Away". They had an on-again, off-again relationship before finally separating in June 1994.

In June 1997, Gallagher married Meg Mathews in Las Vegas, Nevada. He had met her in 1994 through her roommate, MTV presenter Rebecca de Ruvo, whom he was dating at the time and whom he left for Mathews. Mathews gave birth to a daughter, Anaïs Gallagher, on 27 January 2000. Gallagher and Mathews divorced in January 2001 on grounds of his adultery with Scottish publicist Sara MacDonald. After the divorce was finalised, Gallagher admitted he had only claimed to have cheated in order to speed up the divorce process and that he had never actually been unfaithful.

Since his separation from Mathews, Gallagher has been in a relationship with MacDonald, whom in 2000.  They have two sons, Donovan Rory MacDonald Gallagher in 2007 and Sonny Patrick MacDonald Gallagher in 2010. Gallagher and MacDonald were married on 18 June 2011 in a private ceremony at the Lime Wood Hotel in the New Forest National Park. Gallagher's best friend Russell Brand was best man at the wedding.

Noel Gallagher previously played in Cork with Oasis at Pairc Ui Chaoimh in 1996. This will be his first performance at Live At The Marquee and it will be the last gig of the season. Support comes from Mullingar's The Academic.