Arthurs was born in 1965 at Saint Mary's Hospital in Manchester,[4] the son of Irish Catholic immigrants from Swinford, County Mayo and near Belfast.

In the late 1980s, while working as a building contractor, he started a band, the Rain, with his friends Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan, Tony McCarroll, and Chris Hutton.

[citation needed] When Oasis performed the song "Whatever" on Top of the Pops, they mimed and one of the cellists from the string section was replaced by Arthurs.

Arthurs was originally supposed to sing lead vocals on "Bonehead's Bank Holiday", a bonus track named after him and included in the vinyl version of (What's the Story) Morning Glory?

Arthurs was replaced by Gem Archer; the rest of the band downplayed the reaction to his departure, Noel Gallagher commenting "it's hardly Paul McCartney leaving The Beatles"[8] though he also said "We've got to respect their (Bonehead and Guigsy's) decision as family men."

Arthurs now lives in Manchester where he has built a recording studio under his house and formed Moondog One (named after Johnny and the Moondogs, one of the Beatles' former titles before they rose to fame), which also included The Smiths' Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke prior to the latter's death from cancer in 2023.

In early 2007, Arthurs had a visible presence in the North West of England for the first time since leaving Oasis eight years previously.

[9] Guest musicians on the project included percussionist Che Beresford and brass-player Bob Marsh from Badly Drawn Boy and Anna Zweck from Samson & Delilah on flute and backing vocals.

[9] Arthurs' followed his Parlour Flames project up with a new group called Phoneys & the Freaks, started in 2014 with singer/songwriter Alex Lipinski.

Their eponymous EP was released in May 2014 under Cherry Red Records; it included four tracks and was made available on vinyl and digital download.

In 2013 and 2014, Arthurs performed with Liam Gallagher's band Beady Eye filling in for Gem Archer, who suffered from a head injury.

He joined the band on their debut performance at the O2 Ritz in Manchester, playing rhythm guitar on the Oasis track "Be Here Now".

On 26 April 2022, Arthurs announced a statement saying that he had been diagnosed with tonsil cancer and could not join Liam Gallagher on his tour in order to undergo treatment.