How mum Peggy persuaded warring Gallagher brothers to settle feud
Speaking for the first time about her role in the reconciliation that would ultimately result in the long-awaited Oasis reunion, Peggy Gallagher told Extra.ie: 'I was the instigator, yes. But sure, wasn't it always going to happen at some time or other?' she added with a twinkle in her soft Co. Mayo accent, clearly relieved her beloved sons have ended their long and much publicised feud.
Ms Gallagher's eyes lit up and she broke into a broad smile as she spoke of her rock star sons' reconciliation: 'It's great, because nobody wants their kids falling out, do they?' Liam and Noel Gallagher playing together as youngsters. Pic: Courtesy of Peggy Gallagher
But she stressed: 'It was their choice, of course. Look, you can't force them to do things they don't want to do.'
Although some reports indicated the Gallagher siblings' Irish mother was instrumental in their reunion, it is the first time she has spoken about it publicly, preferring to live away from the public spotlight in the same council house in a Manchester suburb where she has lived for nearly 50 years.
The Oasis split in 2009 marked the break-up of one of rock'n'roll's most successful-ever bands, leaving fans clamouring for a reunion ever since. Peggy Gallagher appearing in documentary Liam Gallagher: As It Was in 2019. Pic: Screen Media Films/Everett/REX/Shutterstock
This seemed to be a long way off as Liam and Noel engaged in a series of tit-for-tat exchanges often gleefully played out and amplified in the media.
In the end, it took the intervention of their no-nonsense Irish mother – who refereed the brothers' bedroom and playground spats as children and helped to ease major disagreements later in adulthood – to convince her famous sons to finally bury the hatchet.
Peggy, 82, is also a big fan of Oasis, whose global fanbase have shelled out a small fortune to see their idols during the band's forthcoming world tour, which kicks off with a series of mammoth UK and Ireland concert dates that includes their double header at Croke Park in August.
Ever since Oasis broke up in 2009, Peggy – who is a devoted grandmother to Noel and Liam's six children – has reportedly been urging her sons to end their feud. Liam Gallagher with his mother Peggy. Pic:Like most mothers when it comes to sibling rivalry or feuds, Peggy refused to take sides and remains very close to both her musician sons.
She regularly travelled to and from London to visit and help look after Liam and Noel's children when they were young.
In a documentary that aired several years ago, Peggy said the brothers' feud dates back to their childhood.
She said: 'I think there was that bit of jealously with Liam and Noel. Noel was beautiful as a baby and then Liam comes along – it takes the limelight off you.
'You could tell disagreement was there with them. I was glad they were in a band together. I would not have wanted Liam in a band without Noel. But it all happened too quick.' Noel Gallagher with his mother Peggy. Pic: Julian Makey/REX/Shutterstock
She has always urged her sons to stop arguing and 'put the past behind them'.
Looking back now, in the wake of her sons' high profile reconciliation, Peggy said from her Manchester home this week: 'You just have to say 'get on with it', and I said that, I had to say, 'get on with it now'… and say 'I've to look after myself too'.'
Peggy said she is longing to see her famous sons back on stage together after such a long and often bitter hiatus, delighting Oasis's legions of old fans and the younger generation of 'kids' who will be seeing the band line for the first time.
But she admits: 'I'll be glad when it's all just over because it makes me get too stressed.' Peggy Gallagher with sons Noel, Paul and Liam in the 1970s. Pic: Dan Callister/Liaison via Getty Images
Peggy was both mother and father to her eldest son Paul, middle child Noel and Liam, her youngest, after she was forced to flee an abusive marriage, finding work in a local Manchester biscuit factory and as a school dinner lady to keep the household afloat.
Two months ago she had a knee replacement and – pointing to the healing scar – told Extra.ie: 'It's still sore. I'm sick of bloody exercising it, up and down the stairs, they say it takes anything up to nine months to be right again.'
But the tough Irish grandmother is already back swimming, where she is joined at her local pool by some of her old friends.
'Oh, the knee hasn't stopped me; I'm back swimming again since the knee replacement, she laughs, adding: 'Nothing ever stops me.'
She agreed the swimming should aid her recovery and mobility, but she admitted: 'I am finding it hard going up and down the stairs. Still, we have to get there, we have to get on with it. Noel Gallagher with his mother Peggy in 2005. Pic: Steve Allen/REX/Shutterstock
'That's how I think… get on with it,' adds the stoic peacemaker, sensible voice of reason, and respected matriarch in this family of music superstars.
She is determined to travel to Dublin to see Liam and Noel take to the stage in Croke Park, even if it means she has to 'hobble around'.
'I'm hoping to get to the Oasis concert in Dublin in August if I can hobble around. That's my plan anyway… it will be great. I know the Irish fans are thrilled about it. There's great excitement in Ireland about the reunion tour and it will be lovely to see family there, also my sister Kathleen who is in Emly [Co. Tipperary].
'I am really looking forward to the Dublin one,' adds Peggy, who was often in the audience when Oasis were playing in packed venues back in their heyday, and she hopes to be there for the band's hotly anticipated homecoming concert in Manchester's Heaton Park.
Peggy had been a regular visitor back to Co. Mayo until last year when she sold her holiday home in Charlestown.
It had been suggested Peggy's decision to sell was prompted by concerns raised by her sons about her being on her own in their house. Liam Gallagher with his mother Peggy in 2006. Pic: Stephen Butler/REX/Shutterstock
She told Extra.ie: 'I used to be there every few weeks, I loved going back. But it's just as well I sold it now as I wouldn't be able to get back there because of the knee, and as you get older you don't want to be doing these things because it is too much of a hassle, even though I would fly from here into Knock and that was right beside me.'
Peggy made the move from Mayo to Manchester to work as a housekeeper and childminder when she was just 18.
She met fellow Irishman Tommy Gallagher from Co. Meath, who ran his own concrete business, and the pair married in the 60s, settling in the Longsight area of Manchester.
But it was not a happy marriage or peaceful family existence. After enduring her husband's drunkenness and violence for years, Peggy finally left him, fleeing in the dead of night, assisted by her brothers and cousins from Ireland who had also settled locally.
Her escape route was the council house she was offered and where she could bring her boys up in relative peace and security.
Her multimillionaire sons have repeatedly tried to persuade their mother to move to a new home over the years, but Peggy has always insisted on remaining in the same council house in Manchester alongside neighbours and friends, close to the shops she knew. The only thing she asked them to replace was her old garden gate.
The street has become a place of pilgrimage for Oasis fans who still come and pose for selfies in front of the modest house, whose security cameras and lowered blinds are the only things that set it apart from neighbouring homes.
As she cheerily waves me off with good wishes for Ireland, Peggy said she has no intention of ever leaving her home of half a century.
Looking out at her neat front garden, an easily maintained pebbled frontage, decorated with pot plants, she tells me: 'I am here nearly 50 years in this house, so nothing is going to move me now; I'm too old to be moving.'
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