As you may have heard, there are rumblings that after 16 years of nonstop insults and swearing it would never happen, the Gallagher brothers have apparently buried the hatchet and will be reuniting as Oasis at some point in the near future.
For those who are under the age of 30, it’s hard to describe how big of a deal this is for the music world. To give you some context, imagine if Taylor Swift was actually a duo with a second Swift sibling. Now imagine the Swift siblings openly HATED each other but continued touring and recording music because they were literally the biggest band on the planet. And now imagine the siblings broke up one day after a particularly bad fight and spent the next 16 years talking shit about each other. Then one day, 16 years later, you wake up and hear that the Swift siblings are going back on tour, perhaps thanks to the promise of a $50-100 million payday per sibling 🙂
That’s what just happened with Oasis.
(Photo by Paul Bergen/Redferns)
Oasis shot to fame in 1994 thanks to the album “Definitely Maybe.” Their 1995 follow-up “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” was equally massive. They churned out hit after hit, number one album after number one album, sold 70 million albums, sold out Wembley, and lived a rock and roll lifestyle. As you may recall, in the mid-’90s, songs like “Wonderwall” and “Champagne Supernova” absolutely dominated the airwaves. And while their songs were dominating the airwaves, the infamous sibling rivalry between brothers and bandmates Liam and Noel Gallagher dominated the media. But as the saying goes, there’s no such thing as bad publicity. The brothers’ feud was part of the band’s mystique.
The feud boiled over, and in 2009, Oasis broke up, seemingly for good.
Their success earned the Gallagher brothers rich, but today, Noel is much richer than Liam. We estimate that Noel Gallagher’s net worth is $70 million, while Liam Gallagher’s net worth is “just” $6 million.
Why Is Noel Gallagher So Much Richer Than Liam?
Noel and Liam may be equally famous for their contributions to Oasis, but that does not mean their finances are equal. The primary reason for the difference is the fact that Noel was the band’s primary songwriter – both music and lyrics – and producer. As a result, Noel earns the lion’s share of royalties generated by the band’s music. He also, therefore owns arguably the majority of the group’s valuable asset, Oasis’ publishing rights. Those rights control where and when their songs are used in movies/TV shows/commercials, etc., and would be entitled to the vast majority of income if their catalog rights were ever put up for sale. As a performer of their songs, Liam does earn ongoing “mechanical” royalties whenever Oasis’ music is purchased or streamed. Unfortunately, mechanical royalties have become significantly less lucrative in the streaming era. When people bought CDs, an artist could get very rich on mechanical royalties alone. And keep in mind, whatever royalties Liam does get, Noel almost certainly gets a share because he is also a performer, whereas Noel’s songwriting/producing royalties are not shared.
Liam’s Expensive Lifestyle
At the peak of his career, Liam Gallagher had a net worth of around $50 million.
By his own admission and according to court filings, Liam Gallagher spent a fortune on his lifestyle. First off, Liam has admitted that he lived well beyond his means while out on tour. In a 2013 interview, he said:
“I don’t go on the road to come back with a big pot of money. I go on the road to have a good time, do great gigs, and enjoy being in a band. And that means staying in good hotels and flying business class.”
And then there were his marriages and divorces. Most importantly, his marriage to and subsequent divorce from Nicole Appleton. Liam and Nicole were married from 2008 to 2014. During their divorce proceedings, Liam revealed that at that point his net worth was “just” $15 million. When it was all said and done, after spending a collective $1 million on legal fees, Liam was ordered to pay Nicole 50% of his assets. That presumably left him with around $7.5 million in roughly 2015.
Liam and Nicole’s 15-year relationship fell apart when it was revealed that Liam had fathered a love child with American journalist Liza Ghorbani and had been keeping his mistress and his child a secret from his wife and family. In fact, Liam only broke the news about his secret baby to his wife when he found out the press was about to run with the story. He called Nicole Appleton while she was on vacation to tell her his tale of infidelity and deception. Appleton subsequently filed for divorce.
Liam accused his estranged wife of spending huge sums of money in the months before their divorce proceedings out of revenge. The judge in the case cleared her of the charge of revenge spending when Appleton said she was simply spending what she was used to as the wife of an international rock star.
Oh, and Liam’s other baby mama, Ghorbani, also took him to court to sue for child support for their daughter Gemma. She was awarded $5,000 a month in addition to the $5,000 a month she was already receiving from Gallagher. Liam was fined another $5,000 by the New York City judge for being MIA at the child support hearing. The rocker cited anxiety and depression as the reason for his absence.
Reportedly, Liam’s difficult financial position in the wake of his divorce caused him to reach out to Noel about getting back together. Apparently, Noel’s staunch refusal at a time when Liam really, really, really needed the money further cranked up the mutual hatred.
If the rumblings are true and Oasis gets back together, as has been widely rumored in the last few days, it’s been estimated that the tour could generate $500 million. That would generate $50-100 million per brother.