Alan White of Oasis

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Alan White (born 26 May 1972) is an English drummer, best known as being the drummer of the English rock group Oasis between 1995 and 2004. He is the longest serving drummer in the band's history, performing on four studio albums, two compilation albums and one live album during his tenure. He joined the band in May 1995 after the band's original drummer Tony McCarroll was removed from the band. He was recommended to Noel Gallagher by Gallagher's friend Paul Weller. Notably, Alan's brother Steve has been longtime drummer for Weller. White left the band in early 2004 in somewhat unclear circumstances. He was replaced in Oasis by Zak Starkey, drummer of The Who and son of The Beatles' drummer Ringo Starr.

At the time of his departure White was the longest-serving member in Oasis beside the Gallaghers (he has since been passed by Andy Bell) and passed through thin and thick with the brothers despite being struck down several times with bouts of alleged tendinitis during his later years with the band.

White married model Liz Atkins on 13 August 1997 at Studley Priory Hotel, Oxfordshire. He had met her on the set of the "Don't Look Back in Anger" music video. The couple divorced in 2000.

In early 2004, White surprisingly left Oasis during the early recording sessions for the band's sixth album. According to Oasis' spokesperson there were some new tracks and demos with White's performance as well, which were made at the end 2003 and early 2004 at the very first demos for their upcoming album, before his departure.

In a recent interview, Noel Gallagher alluded to White's personal problems: "He's a fucking great guy and he's one of the best drummers I've ever met in my life, but his personal life is fucking chaos. In the end he fucked off and we haven't seen him since."

In an interview on Radio 1 with Chris Moyles (15 August 2008) Noel Gallagher stated that White was "kicked out" of the band.

There is also evidence to suggest that White was upset that his drums were going down so low in the mix on top of the prevalence of drum loops ("Go Let It Out", "Gas Panic!", "The Hindu Times", "Better Man", "Force Of Nature"). On one Q&A with Freddie Gee, he had said: "Well, I don't like that my drums get turned down with each successive mix we do of an album, but one mustn't grumble in this band".

In March 2007, the remaining members of Oasis paid White £348,000 to buy him out of their company "Definitely Maybe". Since his departure, White has remained out of the spotlight and he has no familiar drumming occupations at the moment. He currently resides in London. His brother Steve has explained lately in his website that Alan "is just having a nice time, he has pursued other interests in business".