Liam Fray

Liam Fray

Liam Fray with Courteeners performing at the OXEGEN '08 festival
Background information
Birth name Liam Fray
Born (1985-05-15) 15 May 1985
Middleton, Greater Manchester, England
Genres Indie rock
Acoustic rock
Post-Britpop
Post-punk revival
Synthpop
Occupation(s) Musician, singer-songwriter, guitarist
Instruments Vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Years active 2005–present
Labels Polydor Records
PIAS Cooperative
Associated acts Courteeners
Notable instruments
Gretsch White Falcon
Gibson Hummingbird

Liam James Fray (born 15 May 1985) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and lyricist, best known as the founder and frontman of Manchester-based indie rock band Courteeners, which was formed in 2006.[1]

Background

Born in Middleton, Greater Manchester[2] into a family of teachers, Fray went to school with the three other members of The Courteeners whom he has known since he was 10.[3] He has an older sister, Laura.

Other Manchester bands such as The Smiths and Oasis inspired Fray to write and form the band. "Noel's the reason why I picked up the guitar when I was 11-years-old – trying to learn 'Wonderwall'," admitted Fray.

First he studied economics, then creative writing at the University of Salford.[4] He ended up leaving in his second year, when the band started to take off.[5] In 2015 he received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts at a graduation ceremony for the University.[6]

Career

He wrote future Courteeners songs 'Not Nineteen Forever' and 'Cavorting' during his time at university while working in Manchester's Fred Perry clothes shop and frequently performed at open mic nights as an acoustic singer-songwriter. "I've been gigging since 2005 – I did a year on my own – and in the summer of '06 we [members of The Courteeners] got together and started gigging properly around Christmas."[7]

All the music and lyrics for the Courteeners songs are written by Liam; he claims they're wholly autobiographical.[8] Ex-The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr once called Fray "an underrated lyricist".

With Courteeners he released five studio albums. All of them went Top 10 in UK Albums Chart; St. Jude and Falcon reached Gold status. The band have achieved their highest chart position so far with their 4th album Concrete Love (2014) entering at number 3. On 5 June 2015 the band played their biggest headline gig to date at Manchester's Heaton Park.[9]

Aside from the band, Fray also performs acoustic solo shows, playing band's songs.[10] Alone in 2013 he completed two sold-out UK tours.[11]

Liam also painted the cover's artwork for Courteeners' debut album St. Jude, which features Audrey Hepburn.[12] He has appeared twice on the cover of NME magazine, one as individual and other with The Courteeners.

His favourite artists are The Beatles, The Smiths, Oasis, Stephen Fretwell, Elbow, The National, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Fray uses cherry Epiphone Riviera electric guitar with frequensator tailpiece (his main live guitar in the St. Jude era), G6136DC Gretsch White Falcon Double Cutaway electric guitar (appeared in Falcon era, main in ANNA, Concrete Love eras), and Gibson Hummingbird acoustic guitar, amongst others.

Discography

Studio albums

References

  1. ↑ "AllMusic The Courteeners Biography". AllMusic. 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  2. ↑ "The Courteeners biography". last.fm. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  3. ↑ "Liam Fray (The Courteeners) Interview by Fergal Kinney". Louder Than War. 7 February 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  4. ↑ "The Courteeners frontman Liam Fray on the band's third album success and their future". express.co.uk. 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  5. ↑ "The Courteeners: 'Kids see passion in us'". The Guardian. 4 March 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  6. ↑ "Courteeners frontman Liam Fray dons cap and gown at Salford University". Manchester Evening News. 15 July 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  7. ↑ "60-second interview: The Courteeners". Daily Record. 13 April 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  8. ↑ "Liam Fray interviewed". Louder Than War. 22 October 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  9. ↑ "The Courteeners describe biggest gig of their career at Manchester's Heaton Park as 'unbelievable'". NME.com. 6 June 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  10. ↑ "LIAM FRAY ANNOUNCES ACOUSTIC TOUR". XFM.com. 13 July 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  11. ↑ "LIAM FRAY @ THE SCALA, LONDON – 26/09/2013". Gigwise. 27 September 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  12. ↑ "St. Jude review". Ultimate Guitar. 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
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