Damon Albarn

Blur, Gorillaz and the rest

Damon Albarn was born on March 23, 1968 in Whitechapel, London. In 1988 Alex James joined his band Circus, which became Seymour, and Food Records took the name Blur from a list the label made; Food signed them in March 1990. Blur are Albarn on vocals, keyboards and guitar, Graham Coxon on guitar, Alex James on bass and Dave Rowntree on drums, active 1988 to 2003, 2009 to 2015 and again from 2023. Their albums include Leisure (1991), Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994, number 1), The Great Escape (1995), Blur (1997), 13 (1999) and Think Tank (2003).

In 1998 he and Jamie Hewlett formed Gorillaz, with the virtual members 2-D, Murdoc Niccals, Russel Hobbs and Noodle. He was also in The Good, the Bad and the Queen with Paul Simonon, Simon Tong and Tony Allen, and in Rocket Juice and the Moon with Allen and Flea. He received an OBE, an honorary MA from the University of East London and Mercury Prize nominations in 2008 and 2014.