Gary Lightbody

At 48 years old, Gary Lightbody has this physical status:

Gareth John Lightbody (born 15 June 1976) is a singer, guitarist, guitarist, and multi-instrumentalist from Northern Ireland, best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Snow Patrol.

The Reindeer Section and Tired Pony were both founded by the musician.

Early life and education

Gareth John Lightbody was born in Bangor, Northern Ireland, to Lynne (née Wray) and Jack Lightbody. Jack Lightbody has been an independent business owner and has roots in Rosemount, Derry. Gary Lightbody has one sibling, Sarah, and attended Rathmore Primary School, Rockport School, and Campbell College, where he was first introduced to Seamus Heaney's writings, inspired him to write his own poetry and songs.

Lightbody moved to Scotland in 1994 to study English literature at the University of Dundee, where he was often dragged from his bed to play matches.

Personal life

Lightbody is a fan of Manchester United and has been known to help both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland national football teams. This is aided by the film "Lifening," in which he sings the word "Ireland in the World Cup, either North or South."

He is a huge fan of the X-Men, particularly Wolverine, and also a collection of comics. He bought several comics as a child and has some that he hasn't opened, wishing they would be collectibles someday; in a later interview, he cheerfully said that they could buy him a tiny pension. He describes himself as a "comics freak."

Despite writing several romantic songs, Lightbody has been accused of having trouble speaking to women. Lightbody has been involved in numerous unhappy relationships, and he attributes their demise on him alone, describing himself as "rubbish with women" in this regard. He attributes a part of his demise to him, "never being in the same place for very long," and admits that he has been hopelessly in love at times.

Lightbody has been involved in a number of causes, many connected to music and football. He is on the board of directors of the Oh Yeah Music Centre in Northern Ireland, a venture that was established in Northern Ireland to give young musicians a forum in which they can share ideas and kick-start their music careers, as a result of talent leaving the region due to a lack of appraisal. He sponsored youth bands from Northern Ireland and made them available as support bands to the Snow Patrol's UK & Ireland Arena Tour, February-March 2009.

Lightbody is one of Belfast's most popular voices, and she once referred to becoming a "Indie rock kid" inspired to become a performer through the influence of artists and bands such as Kurt Cobain, Super Furry Animals, and Sebadoh.

Lightbody Foundation was established in July 2019 to help charities in Northern Ireland and around the world. He gave musicians in Northern Ireland who were in the aftermath of the coronavirus in May 2020. The foundation had donated around $90,000 to nine other charities in America two months ago.

Lightbody has worked with Save the Children in Uganda, an experience on which he has written in New Statesman. He has also been instrumental in raising the alarm of depression, a disorder that he himself has struggled with.

Source

Career

Lightbody formed a band with Mark McClelland and drummer Michael Morrison in 1994, called Shrug. Morrison left the band later, and the band were forced to change the name to Polarbear, as another band had claimed the name. In the band's first seven years of existence, they added drummer Jonny Quinn, released two albums (Songs for Polarbears, and When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up), and toured with bands such as Levellers, Ash and Travis. The band stayed in Glasgow during the recording of the first two albums. Lightbody used to hold a job at the Nice n Sleazy's Bar in Sauchiehall Street. Today, Lightbody owns a small place in Glasgow and says he will never leave the country behind, though he resides in Belfast. He feels an attachment to the place, as it gave him his first taste of success.

In the early days, Lightbody used to drink very heavily, and in his words, was "irrational, erratic, neurotic". He had become frustrated by Snow Patrol's lack of financial success and felt lost and aimless. He started cursing at the audience and demolishing the band's equipment. He found himself breaking guitars they could not afford. This phase ran for two years. He later gave up drinking and now does it "for fun" and credits his bandmates for the turnaround. The song "Disaster Button" (A Hundred Million Suns) deals with this topic. Though a musician, he cannot read music and has said that he "guesses" his way through chords. He has a baritone vocal range.

When at the University of Dundee, Lightbody met Nick DeCosemo, a fellow student, and the two became friends. DeCosemo also moved in Lightbody's Springfield apartment when he moved out of his parents' house. Nick had formed a club night called The Spaceship at the Tay Hotel. Along with Lightbody, friends Roy Kerr, Tom Simpson, and Anu Pillai also used to DJ there. They mixed up various styles of music as house, rock, and hip hop. They gained a loyal following and socialised together for about two years.

Lightbody later co-wrote "What Are You Waiting For" on the album Strangest Things, with Anu Pillai for Freeform Five. "What Are You Waiting For" was written before Snow Patrol released Final Straw, during a time when Lightbody was staying over at the band's place for a few days. Pillai had to literally drag a hungover Lightbody to the studio.

Lightbody has filled in for DJ Zane Lowe on his BBC radio show on one occasion during the 2007 takeovers. He was subsequently voted the best fill-in DJ amongst them by the listeners. He has compiled two DJ mix albums, one in The Trip series: The Trip: Created by Snow Patrol, and another with bandmate Tom Simpson, called Late Night Tales: Snow Patrol on the Late Night Tales series.

In addition to his work with Snow Patrol and DJing, Lightbody has contributed to other projects and works. He made a cameo appearance in the Game of Thrones episode, "Walk of Punishment", playing a Bolton soldier who begins singing, "The Bear and the Maiden Fair".

Lightbody writes as essayist articles or columns in variously music magazines and newspapers like Q magazine and previously wrote for The Irish Times music section as guest-editor. As an impassioned music fan and DJ, he recommends in his blogs or essays albums and artists of different and wide-ranging genres of music.

In May 2009, Lightbody commenced writing his music column, Gary Lightbody's Band of the Week, in the magazine Q The Music.com.

In 2011, he wrote as an essayist for The Huffington Post.

As a songwriter/bandleader, Lightbody has written songs and lyrics for a wide variety of artists and genres. In 2000, he formed the Scottish supergroup The Reindeer Section, comprising 47 musicians from 20 different bands, including members of bands like Belle & Sebastian, Mogwai, Idlewild, Teenage Fanclub, Arab Strap and other musicians. The group released Y'All Get Scared Now, Ya Hear! in 2001 and Son of Evil Reindeer in 2002.

Source