Tony McCarroll

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Tony McCarroll
TonyMcCarroll.jpg
Background information
Birth nameAnthony McCarroll
Born (1971-06-04) 4 June 1971 (age 52)
Levenshulme, Manchester, England
Genres Rock, Britpop, alternative rock
Instrument(s) Drums
Years active1991–1995, 2010, 2018–present
Formerly of Oasis

Anthony McCarroll (born 4 June 1971) is an English drummer and one of the founding members of the English rock band Oasis, as their drummer from 1991 until his dismissal in April 1995. He played the drums on their debut album, Definitely Maybe , in addition to performing on the singles "Whatever" and "Some Might Say", the latter of which was Oasis' first number-one single from the album (What's the Story) Morning Glory? .

Contents

Early life

Anthony McCarroll was born to Irish parents on 4 June 1971 in Levenshulme, Manchester, where he grew up. He has family in Ireland and spent a couple of years living there when he was younger due to his father's work. McCarroll got his first drum kit when he was six years old.

Career

Oasis

McCarroll had met Paul McGuigan while playing for the local football team at a young age. Together with McGuigan's friend Paul Arthurs, they formed a band called The Rain and hired Chris Hutton as their singer, but he was sacked and replaced by Liam Gallagher not so long after, whom McCarroll had also known through childhood. Liam decided to change the name to Oasis, inspired by a poster for Inspiral Carpets that was hanging in his room.

Soon after, Liam's brother Noel joined. McCarroll has stated in his book that he was closely involved in the creation of several of Oasis's songs, including "Supersonic", despite Gallagher being given sole credit as songwriter.

Noel Gallagher and McCarroll got on during childhood, but as Oasis gradually became famous, the relationship between the two faltered. Gallagher has repeatedly publicly slammed McCarroll's drumming ability, saying it was not good enough for a number one single.[ citation needed ] After McCarroll's ejection from the band, Noel Gallagher stated in an interview with the Associated Press, "I like Tony as a geezer, but he wouldn't have been able to drum the new songs." [1]

On the last day of April 1995, McCarroll's departure was announced and he was replaced by Alan White, who remained until 2004.

Oasis producer Owen Morris said of McCarroll, "Tony was quiet and always polite to me, but seemed out of his depth…so I think Tony did well to survive as long as he did in Oasis". [2] Morris described McCarroll's drumming style as "extremely basic", but with timing and tempo that were "almost autistically perfect". [2]

Lawsuit against the band

In 1999 McCarroll hired a solicitor Jens Hills – who had won Pete Best £2 million from The Beatles in 1995 – to sue Oasis for £18 million. Arguing McCarroll was owed his part of the band's five-album deal with Creation, the case hoped to set a legal precedent, as McCarroll would have claimed compensation for two LPs on which he had not played. Eventually, he accepted an out-of-court settlement of £550,000 in March 1999 and agreed to give up future royalties.

Life after Oasis

In an article building up to Oasis' seventh studio album Dig Out Your Soul in Q magazine in 2008, it was revealed that McCaroll was last seen in 2000 performing with the band Raika. [3]

McCarroll's biography about his time in Oasis, entitled Oasis: The Truth, was released in October 2010. [4]

McCarroll was also interviewed for the documentary entitled Oasis: Supersonic in 2016 and the audio was included in the film.

Personal life

On 30 August 2021, McCarroll revealed via Twitter that he had been admitted to hospital five days prior after suffering a heart attack, but stated that while he was "not out of the woods yet", his recovery was progressing well and thanked the NHS staff for their services. [5] [6] The following day, McCarroll tweeted that he was "all good" and had left hospital after having been fitted with a coronary stent to regulate his blood flow. [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Definitely Maybe</i> 1994 studio album by Oasis

Definitely Maybe is the debut studio album by English rock band Oasis, released by Creation Records on 29 August 1994. The album features Noel Gallagher on lead guitar, backing vocals and as chief songwriter, Liam Gallagher on lead vocals, Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs on rhythm guitar, Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan on bass guitar and Tony McCaroll on drums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oasis (band)</span> English rock band (1991–2009)

Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as the Rain, the group initially consisted of Liam Gallagher, Paul Arthurs (guitar), Paul McGuigan and Tony McCarroll (drums), with Liam's older brother Noel joining as a fifth member a few months after their formation. During the course of their existence, they had various lineup changes, with the Gallagher brothers remaining the only stable members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liam Gallagher</span> English singer (born 1972)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noel Gallagher</span> English singer and guitarist (born 1967)

Noel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He was the primary songwriter, lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis until their split in 2009. After leaving Oasis, he formed Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. He is one of the most successful songwriters in British music history, as the writer of eight UK number-one singles and co-writer of a further number one, as well as the sole or primary writer of ten UK number-one studio albums. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential songwriters in the history of British rock music, cited by numerous major subsequent artists as an influence.

<i>(Whats the Story) Morning Glory?</i> 1995 studio album by Oasis

(What's the Story) Morning Glory? is the second studio album by English rock band Oasis. Released on 2 October 1995 by Creation Records, it was produced by Owen Morris and the group's lead guitarist and chief songwriter Noel Gallagher. The structure and arrangement style of the album was a significant departure from the band's previous album, Definitely Maybe (1994). Gallagher's compositions were more focused in balladry and placed more emphasis on "huge" choruses, with the string arrangements and more varied instrumentation contrasting with the rawness of the group's debut album. Morning Glory was the group's first album with drummer Alan White, who replaced Tony McCarroll.

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Alan Victor "Whitey" White is an English drummer, best known as the drummer of the rock band Oasis from 1995 to 2004. Before Oasis, he was the drummer of Starclub from 1991 to 1994. He joined the band in April 1995 after the band's original drummer Tony McCarroll was removed, and is the longest-serving drummer in Oasis's history, performing on four studio albums, a B-side compilation, and one live album during his tenure, as well as recording one track that would appear on Don't Believe the Truth. He was recommended to Noel Gallagher by Gallagher's friend Paul Weller. Notably, Alan's brother, Steve, had been a longtime drummer for Weller. White left Oasis in early 2004 and was replaced by Zak Starkey, drummer of The Who and son of The Beatles' drummer Ringo Starr.

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References

  1. "Original Oasis drummer Tony McCarroll wants reunion". AP NEWS. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  2. 1 2 Morris, Owen. "The Rise and Fall of Me Recording Oasis". owenmorris.net. Archived from the original on 12 November 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  3. "McCarroll keeps it in the family". Nme.com. 6 December 2000. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  4. ASIN   1843582465
  5. @TonyMcCarrolls (30 August 2021). "Hi All. Wanted to let you know I was admitted to hospital on Thursday after suffering a heart attack on Wednesday n…" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  6. Emily Zemler (31 August 2021). "Oasis Founding Drummer Tony McCarroll Suffers Heart Attack". Rolling Stone.
  7. "Former Oasis drummer Tony McCarroll shares health update following heart attack: "All good!"". NME . September 2021.