Damon Albarn

Damon Albarn
OBE
Albarn at Wembley Stadium in 2023
Albarn at Wembley Stadium in 2023
Background information
Born (1968-03-23) 23 March 1968 (age 56)
Whitechapel, London, England
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • singer-songwriter
  • record producer
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • keyboards
  • guitar
  • melodica
  • bass guitar
Years active1988–present
Labels
Member of
Formerly of
Partner(s)Justine Frischmann (1991–1998)
Suzi Winstanley (1998–2023)
Websitedamonalbarnmusic.com

Damon Albarn OBE (/ˈælbɑːrn/, AL-barn; born 23 March 1968) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He is the frontman and main lyricist of the rock band Blur and the co-creator and primary musical contributor of the virtual band Gorillaz.

Raised in Leytonstone, East London, and around Colchester, Essex, Albarn attended the Stanway School, where he met the guitarist Graham Coxon, with whom he would later form Blur. They released their debut album Leisure in 1991. After spending long periods touring the US, Albarn's songwriting became increasingly influenced by British bands from the 1960s. The result was the Blur albums Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994) and The Great Escape (1995). All three received critical acclaim, while Blur gained mass popularity in the UK, aided by a Britpop chart rivalry with Oasis. Chart-topping albums such as Blur (1997), 13 (1999) and Think Tank (2003) incorporated influences from lo-fi, art rock, electronic and world music. These were followed by The Magic Whip (2015), Blur's first studio album in 12 years, and The Ballad of Darren in 2023.

Albarn formed the virtual band Gorillaz in 1998 with the comic book artist Jamie Hewlett. Drawing influences from hip hop, dub, pop,[2] trip hop[3] and world music,[4] Gorillaz released their self-titled debut album in 2001 to worldwide success, spawning numerous successful follow-ups and continuing to release albums and tour into the 2020s. Albarn remains the group's only consistent musical contributor. His other notable projects include the supergroups the Good, the Bad & the Queen and Rocket Juice & the Moon. He co-founded the non-profit musical organisation Africa Express and has composed film soundtracks. Albarn also scored the stage productions Monkey: Journey to the West (2008), Dr Dee (2012) and Wonder.land (2016). His debut solo album, Everyday Robots, was released in 2014, followed by The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows in 2021.

In 2008, The Daily Telegraph named Albarn the 18th-most powerful person in British culture.[5] In 2016, Albarn received the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.[6] He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to music.[7] In 2020, Albarn was granted Icelandic citizenship.[8]

  1. ^ Dalton, Stephen (27 March 2012). ""I'm Sort of English Melancholy": Damon Albarn Interviewed". The Quietus. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  2. ^ Brown, Cass; Gorillaz (2 November 2006). Rise of the Ogre. United States: Penguin. pp. 42–48. ISBN 1-59448-931-9.
  3. ^ Rees, Christina (3 July 2001). "Monkey Wrench". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  4. ^ Wehner, Cyclone (April 2017). "Gorillaz – 'Humanz'". Music Feeds. Archived from the original on 21 April 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
  5. ^ "The 100 most powerful people in British culture". The Daily Telegraph. 9 November 2016. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022.
  6. ^ "The Ivors 2016". The Ivors. Archived from the original on 23 May 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  7. ^ "No. 61450". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2015. p. N10.
  8. ^ Moore, Sam (11 November 2021). "Damon Albarn says he always had a sense he wasn't 'just English'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 August 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2021.