"FAMOUS MANCUNIANS" by Ashleigh_Kobewka

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Morrissey lead singer of band "The smiths"

Morrissey

Steven Patrick Morrissey, (born May 22, 1959 in Manchester in England) dropped his forenames to become Morrissey, the lead singer of the seminal UK 'indie' band, The Smiths. When the band broke up in 1987, Morrissey developed a successful solo career and is one of only a few artists to have had UK top ten singles in three separate decades.

The Smiths are viewed by many as one of the most influential bands of the 1980s post-punk era. Morrissey's ambiguous sexuality, provocative iconoclasm, and lyrical compositions blended with guitarist Johnny Marr's highly melodic songwriting to sell many recordings. The band became a success in the UK, Ireland, and Australia and became a cult obsession in the United States of America, doing quite well on college radio charts with songs such as "How Soon Is Now?", and "Panic."

The band broke up due to conflict between Morrissey and Marr, after a productive period from 1985 to 1987 when they released several successful albums: Meat Is Murder, Strangeways, Here We Come, and the hit The Queen is Dead.

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oasis

Oasis

Oasis shot from obscurity to stardom in 1994, becoming one of Britain's most popular and critically acclaimed bands of the decade; along with Blur and Suede, they are responsible for returning British guitar pop to the top of the charts. Led by guitarist/songwriter Noel Gallagher, the Manchester quintet adopts the rough, thuggish image of the Stones and the Who, crosses it with "Beatlesque" melodies and hooks, distinctly British lyrical themes and song structures like the Jam and the Kinks, and ties it all together with a massive, loud guitar roar.

Oasis are one of the most famous bands to come out of Manchester.
They are also a favourite in our household as well as Morrissey. Some of their hits include Wonderwall, Lyla, Roll with it. The two front men liam and Noal galagher are also Manchester City fans.

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Take that

Take that

Take That was a boy band which originated in Manchester, England in 1990. Between the band's first single release in 1991 till their cataclysmic break up in 1996, the BBC describes Take That as "the most successful British band since the Beatles, beloved of young and old alike". Take That's Hi-NRG dance-pop tunes and soulful ballads dominated the English charts in the first half of the 90s spawning two of the best selling albums of the decade with 'Everything Changes' 1993 and 'Greatest Hits' 1996, and according to the AMG Music Guides, "at this time were giant superstars in Europe with the main question about them not being about whether they could get a hit single, but how many and which would make it to number one".

Take That Members included songwriter Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, and Robbie Williams, who left the band to follow a solo career in 1995 after differences with the other four. Take That had a total of eight number one hits in the UK singles chart and the success of the band as both an act and a formulaic format inspired a cycle of manufactured Pop acts that came to dominate the UK music industry of the next decade. Take That's image was often described as purposefully homoerotic which may have contributed to their failure to break into the North American market.

M People were a British house music act from Manchester which formed in 1990. They consisted of Mike Pickering, Heather Small and Paul Heard and Shovell. Pickering was a member of Factory Records dance act Quando Quango but became more noted as one of the original DJs at The Hacienda. Heather Small was in the British Soul band HotHouse who had released a number of critically acclaimed records without scoring any major success.

In 1994 and 1995 they won the Brit Award for Best British Dance Act. In 1994, they won the Mercury Music Prize for the album Elegant Slumming. The victory sparked controversy as they beat Britpop band Blur, who were deemed by critics to be more 'worthy' than a mere dance band. With ten Top Ten UK singles, the band was one of the most consistent hit-makers of the 90s, and the album Bizarre Fruit stayed in the UK charts for two years.

In the United States, their biggest success was on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, where they achieved five Top 5 singles, four of which hit number one.

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The Stone Roses

The Stone Roses

The Stone Roses were one of the most influential bands to come out of Britain during the late 1980s and early '90s. The band are considered to be one of the founders of the Britpop music genre. Indeed, Liam Gallagher was inspired to be a rock star after seeing a Stone Roses performance as part of the anti-Clause 28 concert at Manchester's International Two venue (May 30, 1988) and had been blown over by Ian's stage presence. Although Ian was a technically poor singer, he was a natural showman and held the crowd in the palm of his hand throughout. His style has also been mirrored in the likes of The Charlatans' frontman Tim Burgess and, in their early days, Blur's Damon Albarn. The band were noted for their dislike of a traditional gigs and would often prefer to put on their own events reminiscent of the early Acid House scene.

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Amir Khan

Amir Khan

The former Smithills School pupil, Amir Khan, who fights out of the Bury Amateur Club, came to public attention at the Athens Olympics in 2004, while he was still a student in Bolton.
Great Britain's sole boxing representative, he had devised an intensive training plan and was in tip-top shape when the lightweight preliminaries kicked off.
In June 2004, the 17-year-old from Bolton had already won the world junior lightweight crown in South Korea after five fights in seven days. His Olympic qualification tournament in Bulgaria in April followed his Gold Medal at the European Championships in Lithuania. Khan won the best boxer award at all three events and was compared to his idol, Olympic legend Muhammad Ali.
Khan remained quietly modest about his prospects and achievements, but his father, Shajaad, a local Bolton scrap dealer, admitted to shedding a proud tear as Amir became the youngest Briton ever to win an Olympic boxing medal.
In the 2004 Olympic Final match in August he won the Silver medal in the lightweight division losing to the reigning Olympic Champion, Cuban Mario Kindelan.

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Peter Kay

Peter Kay

Peter Kay was born in Bolton on 2nd July 1973. The star of the Channel 4 television series "Phoenix Nights" and "That Peter Kay Thing" maintains that stand-up comedy is his first love.
Appearing as if from nowhere, in 1997 Kay won City Life's Comedian of the year competition in Manchester and in 1998, following his sell-out Edinburgh Fringe Festival show his he was nominated for the Perrier award. He then went on to win awards for Top Stand Up and Top TV Comedy.
Also in 1998 he appeared in "The Services", a one-off Channel 4 special. In 2000 the six part Channel 4 series "That Peter Kay Thing" won him the best new TV comedy at the British Comedy Awards. Recently he has done a series of television adverts for John Smith's beer and in the autumn of 2002 he returned to Channel 4 with a new six part series of "Phoenix Nights" and did a sell out 17 night stand at the Lowry in Salford!
In 2002 he has taken to the road with his live stand up shows with performances at almost 50 UK venues.

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Ricky Hatton

Ricky Hatton

Born on the 6th October 1978 in Stockport, and still living at his home with his parents in Hattersley, Hyde, Ricky Hatton was a relatively little known light welterweight boxer until he burst onto the national scene on 4th June 2005 with a dramatic victory over Kostya Tszyu at the MEN Arena in Manchester to become International Boxing Federation Light Welterweight Champion of the World.
Hatton, a self-confessed Manchester City Football Club fanatic, might easily have followed in his father's footsteps and played football for Man City, but chose boxing instead.
While still an amateur boxer, he lost to a Russian fighter in the semi-finals of the world championships in 1996 and was so disappointed with his own performance that he reputedly locked away his bronze medal in a drawer and has never looked at it since.
He turned professional in 1997, and beat Tommy Peacock before going on to defeat Jon Thaxton in a British title bout.
In 2001 he decicively beat Tony Pep to win the World Boxing Union title. Soon known simply as the "Hitman", Hatton gained a reputation as a ferocious, aggressive and focused fighter. He trains out of a backstreet gymnasium in Denton, and is frequently to be seen doing road work down Stockport Road in the early hours of the morning.
By the time he faced hard man Kostya Tszyu as the supposed underdog in the title fight in Manchester, Hatton had been undefeated in the 38 previous bouts. Before a crowd of local fans, his determination and power dominated Tszyu throughout, forcing the Australian-based Russian, the hitherto so-called "Thunder from Down Under", to fail to continue beyond Round 11. Just now, the world seems to be Ricky's well-deserved oyster!