Damon Albarn

Damon Albarn biography

Damon Albarn (, born 23 March 1968) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and record producer who has been involved in many high profile projects, coming to prominence as the frontman and primary songwriter of the Britpop band Blur. Albarn's current role is lead vocalist and songwriter of Gorillaz, whose first two studio albums had sold more than 20 million copies combined by 2007. Albarn has also led projects such as The Good, the Bad & the Queen, Monkey: Journey to the West, Mali Music and Rocket Juice & the Moon. Albarn has released multiple singles and albums which have charted at number one, both in the UK and internationally.

Albarn was voted the fourth greatest frontman of all time in a 2010 UK Poll for Q Music magazine.

Early life

Albarn was born in Whitechapel, London in 1968, and grew up with his middle-class, Quaker family in Leytonstone, later moving to Colchester. He attended the George Tomlinson Primary School, and studied piano and violin. When he was 9 years old he moved for three months to Turkey, with his parents. When he was aged 12, he became friends with Graham Coxon, a fellow pupil at Stanway School.

He studied acting at the East 15 Acting School in Debden, leaving after the first year. On leaving drama school he worked as a tea boy at the Beat Factory studio. His first band was the synth pop group, Two's a Crowd. Before Blur, he played with The Aftermath and Real Lives.

Albarn's father, Keith Albarn, was the manager of Soft Machine and presenter of the BBC's Late Night Line-Up. Keith Albarn was the head of North Essex College of Art, which later became Colchester Institute. Albarn's mother, Hazel, was a theatrical set designer. He has a sister, Jessica (born 1971).

Blur is an English alternative rock band. Formed in London in 1989 as Seymour, the group consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Blur's debut album Leisure (1991) incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing. Following a stylistic change-influenced by English guitar pop groups such as The Kinks, The Beatles and XTC-Blur released the Modern Life is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994) and The Great Escape (1995) albums. As a result, the band helped to popularise the Britpop genre and achieved mass popularity in the UK, aided by a famous chart battle with rival band Oasis dubbed "The Battle of Britpop".

In recording their follow-up, Blur (1997), the band underwent another reinvention, influenced by the lo-fi style of American indie rock bands such as Pavement. "Song 2", one of the album's singles, brought Blur brief mainstream success in the US. The last album featuring Blur's original line-up, 13 (1999) found the band members experimenting with electronic music and gospel music, as Albarn wrote more personal lyrics. In May 2002, Coxon left Blur during the recording of their seventh album Think Tank (2003). Containing electronic sounds and more minimal guitar work, the album was marked by Albarn's growing interest in hip hop and African music. After a 2003 tour without Coxon, Blur did no studio work or touring as a band, as members engaged in other projects. Subsequently, Blur reunited in 2009 with Coxon back in the fold. Following a series of successful concerts, Blur left the spotlight until they released their first single in a decade by the original line-up, called "Fool's Day". On 21 February 2012, Blur were awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the Brits. They went on to perform five tracks: "Girls & Boys", "Song 2", "Parklife", "Tender" and "This Is a Low". Blur will headline at Hyde Park, with New Order and The Specials, to celebrate the closing of the 2012 Summer Olympics on 12 August 2012.

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