Birth name Liam Fray Role Musician Name Liam Fray | Associated acts Courteeners Years active 2005–present | |
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Occupation(s) Musician, singer-songwriter, guitarist Instruments Vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar Labels Polydor RecordsPIAS Cooperative People also search for Daniel Conan Moores, Mark Cuppello, Michael Campbell, Hayley McQueen Music group The Courteeners (Since 2006) Albums Concrete Love, Anna, St Jude, Falcon, Here Come the Young Men Profiles | ||
Smoke bomb thrown at the courteeners liam fray kicks off
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 The Courteeners, which was formed in 2006.
Contents
- Smoke bomb thrown at the courteeners liam fray kicks off
- Music Made In Manchester with Liam Fray
- Background
- Career
- Discography
- References
Music Made In Manchester with Liam Fray
Background
Born in Middleton, Greater Manchester 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. 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. He ended up leaving in his second year, when the band started to take off. In 2015, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts at a graduation ceremony for the University.
Career
He wrote future The 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."
All the music and lyrics for The Courteeners' songs are written by Fray; he claims they are wholly autobiographical. Ex-The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr once called Fray "an underrated lyricist".[citation needed]
With The Courteeners, he released five studio albums. All of them went Top 10 in the 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 27 May 2017, the band played their biggest headline gig to 50,000 people at Manchester's Emirates Old Trafford.
Aside from the band, Fray also performs acoustic solo shows, playing band's songs. Alone in 2013 he completed two sold-out UK tours. He performed a special solo set at Neighbourhood Festival, the Albert Hall, Manchester on 8 October 2016. Fray is due to play a solo acoustic tour in Autumn/Winter 2017.
Fray also painted the cover artwork for The Courteeners' debut album St. Jude, which features Audrey Hepburn. He has appeared twice on the cover of NME magazine, one as an individual and the other with The Courteeners.
His favourite artists are The Beatles, The Smiths, Oasis, Stephen Fretwell, Elbow, The National, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Fray uses a cherry Epiphone Riviera electric guitar with a 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.