Liam Fray

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.

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.

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."

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

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.

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

Liam also painted the cover's artwork for Courteeners' debut album St. Jude, which features Audrey Hepburn. 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.

Studio albums

• 2008: St. Jude
• 2010: Falcon
• 2013: Anna
• 2014: Concrete Love
• 2016: Mapping the Rendezvous