Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn OBE | |
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Background information | |
Born | Whitechapel, London, England | 23 March 1968
Genres | |
Occupations |
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Instruments |
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Years active | 1988–present |
Labels | |
Member of | |
Formerly of | |
Partner(s) | Suzi Winstanley (1998–2023) |
Website | damonalbarnmusic |
Damon Albarn
Raised in Leytonstone,
Albarn formed the virtual band Gorillaz in 1998 with the comic book artist
In 2008,
Early life
Albarn was born on 23 March 1968; he is the elder child of artist
Damon's paternal grandfather Edward, an architect,
When Damon and Jessica were growing up, their family moved to
Albarn was interested in music from an early age, attending an
He studied acting at the
Music career
Blur
Formation and Leisure
Albarn enrolled on a part-time music course at London's
In October 1990, Blur released their first single, "
Britpop era
After discovering they were £60,000 in debt, Blur toured the US in 1992 in an attempt to recoup their losses.[33] Albarn and the band became increasingly unhappy and homesick during the two-month American tour and began writing songs which "created an English atmosphere".[34] Blur had undergone an ideological and image shift intended to celebrate their English heritage in contrast to the popularity of American grunge bands like Nirvana.[35] Although sceptical of Albarn's new manifesto, Balfe gave his assent for the band's choice of Andy Partridge of the band XTC to produce their follow-up to Leisure. The sessions with Partridge proved unsatisfactory, but a chance reunion with Stephen Street resulted in him returning to produce the group.[36]
The second Blur album,
Blur began working on their fourth album
The Great Escape was released in September 1995 to positive reviews, and entered the UK charts at number one. However, opinion quickly changed and Blur found themselves largely out of favour with the media. BBC Music writer James McMahon recalled how the "critical euphoria" surrounding the album lasted "about as long as it took publishers to realise Oasis would probably shift more magazines for them".[49] Following the worldwide success of Oasis' (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, the media quipped that Blur "wound up winning the battle but losing the war."[50] Blur became perceived as an "inauthentic middle-class pop band" in comparison to "working-class heroes" Oasis, which Albarn said made him feel "stupid and confused".[47] Bassist James said: "After being the People's Hero, Damon was the People's Prick for a short period ... basically, he was a loser – very publicly."[51] In the New Statesman, Stuart Maconie noted "Albarn... was mocked as the posh boy of Britpop when in fact he’d gone to a comprehensive in Essex and his family was just mildly bohemian. Nowadays he’d be decidedly 'below stairs'".[52]
Post-Britpop and hiatus
An early 1996 Q interview reported that relations between Blur members had become strained; journalist Adrian Deevoy wrote that he found them "on the verge of a nervous breakup."[51] Coxon, in particular, began to resent his bandmates[51] and, in a rejection of the group's Britpop aesthetic, made a point of listening to noisy American alternative rock bands such as Pavement.[53] Albarn grew to appreciate Coxon's tastes in lo-fi and underground music, and recognised the need to change Blur's musical direction once again. "I can sit at my piano and write brilliant observational pop songs all day long but you've got to move on," he said,[51] and decided to give Coxon more creative control over their new album. Albarn visited Iceland during this period: "I used to have a recurring dream, as a child, of a black sand beach. And one hazy, lazy day [laughs], I was watching the TV and I saw a programme about Iceland, and they had black beaches. So I got on a plane ... I was on my own. I didn't know anybody. I went into the street, Laugavegur, where the bars are, and that was it."[54]
After initial sessions in London, the band left to record the rest of the album in Iceland, away from the Britpop scene.[51] The result was Blur, the band's fifth studio album, released in February 1997. Although the music press predicted that the lo-fi sonic experimentation would alienate Blur's teenage girl fanbase, they generally applauded the effort. Pointing out lyrics such as "Look inside America / She's alright", and noting Albarn's "obligatory nod to Beck, [and promotion of] the new Pavement album as if paid to do so", reviewers felt the band had come to accept American values during this time – an about-face of their attitude during the Britpop years.[55] Despite cries of "commercial suicide," the album and its first single, "Beetlebum", debuted at number one in the UK.[56] Although the album could not match the sales of their previous albums in the UK, Blur became the band's most successful internationally,[56] particularly in the US, helped by the successful single "Song 2". After the success of Blur, the band embarked on a nine-month world tour.[51]
Blur's sixth studio album
Reunion
In December 2008, Blur announced they would reunite for a concert at London's Hyde Park on 3 July 2009.[62] Days later, the band added a second date, for 2 July.[63] A series of June preview shows were also announced, ending at Manchester Evening News arena on the 26th. All the shows were well received; The Guardian's music critic Alexis Petridis gave their performance at Goldsmiths College a full five stars, and wrote that "Blur's music seems to have potentiated by the passing of years ... they sound both more frenetic and punky and more nuanced and exploratory than they did at the height of their fame".[64] Blur headlined the Glastonbury Festival on 28 June, where they played for the first time since their headline slot in 1998. Reviews of the Glastonbury performance were enthusiastic; The Guardian called them "the best Glastonbury headliners in an age".[65]
The band released their second greatest-hits album Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur in June 2009. After the completion of the reunion dates, Albarn told Q that the band had no intention of recording or touring live again. He said, "I just can't do it anymore", and explained that the main motivation for participating in the reunion was to repair his relationship with Coxon, which succeeded.[66]
In January 2010,
In February 2012, Blur were awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the
Gorillaz
Albarn and Jamie Hewlett met in 1990 when Coxon, a fan of Hewlett's work, asked him to interview Blur.[77] The interview was published in Deadline magazine, home of Hewlett's comic strip, Tank Girl. Hewlett initially thought Albarn was "arsey, a wanker", and despite becoming one of the band's acquaintances, Hewlett often did not get on with its members, especially after he started going out with Coxon's ex-girlfriend, Jane Olliver.[77] Nonetheless, Albarn and Hewlett started sharing a flat on Westbourne Grove in London in 1997.[78] Hewlett had recently broken up with Olliver and Albarn was also at the end of his highly publicised relationship with Frischmann.[77]
The idea to create Gorillaz came about when the two were watching
The second Gorillaz studio album,
In a 2012 interview, Albarn talked about the unlikelihood of any future Gorillaz releases; his relationship with Hewlett had soured when Albarn chose to undercut the role of animation on their
Solo career and side projects
Albarn released Mali Music in 2002, recorded in Mali, during a trip he made to support Oxfam in 2000.[100] He has visited Nigeria to record music with Nigerian drummer Tony Allen.[citation needed]
In 2003, Albarn released an EP, Democrazy, a compilation of demos he recorded in various hotel rooms during the United States portion of Think Tank's tour.[101]
Albarn collaborated with producers
Maison Des Jeunes, an album for Albarn's project Africa Express, was released in 2013.[104] In 2014, Albarn appeared in the song "Go Back" in Tony Allen's albums Film of Life and The Source.[citation needed]
In a 2013 interview with
In June 2021, Transgressive Records announced that they had signed Albarn and would be releasing his second solo album, after which Albarn revealed the title The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows and 12 November release date alongside the title track's release.[110][111]
The Good, the Bad & the Queen
In May 2006,
The first single by the line-up, "
Rocket Juice and the Moon
Rocket Juice & the Moon is the title of Albarn's side-project featuring Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and afrobeat legend Tony Allen. Albarn has stated that he is not responsible for the name; someone in Lagos did the sleeve design and that was the name it was given. Albarn has claimed that he is content with the outcome, as trying to come up with band names is difficult for him. The band performed together for the first time on 28 October 2011 in Cork, Ireland, as part of the annual Cork Jazz Festival. They performed under the moniker Another Honest Jon's Chop Up!. Their debut album was released on 26 March 2012.[120]
Studio 13
Albarn, along with Tom Girling and Jason Cox, established Studio 13, a recording studio for their own use, with the first projects at 13 being pre-production work for Blur's similarly-named album, as well as Albarn's contributions to the Ravenous soundtrack.[121] Since then, Studio 13 has been used not only for Albarn's projects, but also by other notable artists, including Paul Simonon, Jorja Smith, and others.[122]
Other projects
In 1998, Albarn and Michael Nyman recorded the song "London Pride" for the tribute album, Twentieth-Century Blues: The Songs of Noël Coward, a patriotic song Noël Coward had written in the spring of 1941 during the Blitz.[123]
Collaboration with Terry Hall during 1994–2003: Having cited Hall as one of his early influences very often, Albarn and Hall went on and held a friendship for many years. They collaborated for multiple times including The Rainbows EP, in which Albarn co-wrote lead track "Chasing A Rainbow" with Hall. Later in Hall’s second solo album Laugh released in 1997, the two co-wrote "For The Girl" and "A Room Full Of Nothing". Hall also sang on a non-album track "911" by Gorillaz;[124] they were both lead vocals on "Lil' Dub Chefin'" by Spacemonkeyz vs Gorillaz for both album and single version. In 2003, Hall and Mushtaq released The Hour of Two Lights, in which Albarn co-wrote and sang on the track "Ten Eleven". The album was also released on Albarn's label Honest Jon's Records in the UK.
In 2003, Albarn worked with the garage rock band the Strokes on their album Room on Fire. Producer Gordon Raphael claims that Albarn was experimenting with backing vocals on the record. In the end, however, Albarn's contributions did not make the record. "Well, I guess the songs are just perfect the way they are," Albarn stated.[125] In the same year he performed "Fashion" live with David Bowie.[126]
Albarn has contributed backing vocals to the songs "FM" on
Albarn also produced soul singer Bobby Womack's twenty-seventh studio album The Bravest Man in the Universe, released in 2012. He recently performed on Jools Holland's Hootenanny on New Year's Eve, performing the track "Love is Gonna Lift You Up".[128] Albarn appeared with Womack at the Glastonbury Festival 2013.[129]
In 2016, Albarn appeared on De La Soul's studio album And the Anonymous Nobody... on the song "Here in After". Albarn had previously collaborated with the group on Gorillaz' albums Demon Days, Plastic Beach, and Humanz on the songs "Feel Good Inc", "Superfast Jellyfish", and "Momentz", respectively.[130][131][132]
In 2017, Albarn sung with Alex Crossan (Mura Masa) on "Blu", the last track of their debut album.
Film, theatre and soundtrack work
"Closet Romantic" appeared on the soundtrack for Trainspotting alongside an early Blur recording, "Sing", which is from their debut album. Albarn composed the score with collaboration by Michael Nyman for the 1999 movie Ravenous, and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Music for his work.
In their first major work together since Gorillaz, Albarn and Hewlett, along with acclaimed Chinese theatre and opera director
In collaboration with theatre director
Albarn recorded the film score for the film version of the book The Boy in the Oak, which was written by his sister, Jessica Albarn. The film was set for a spring 2011 release in select theatres.[136]
In 2014, Albarn contributed the song "Sister Rust" to the soundtrack of science fiction film Lucy.[137][138]
Albarn wrote the music for a musical based on
Albarn provided a track for the film The White Helmets called "Crashing Down", an abandoned track initially planned for the Gorillaz album Plastic Beach.
The Heavy Seas
Albarn's live band is called the Heavy Seas, and features guitarist Seye, drummer
Acting appearances
Albarn starred in Antonia Bird's 1997 film Face alongside Ray Winstone and Robert Carlyle. Albarn was also featured in Gunar Karlsson's 2007 film, Anna and the Moods, along with Terry Jones and Björk. Albarn played "Bull" in Joe Orton's Up Against It, a Radio 4 play originally written for the Beatles broadcast in 1998.
Personal life
Albarn had a long-standing and publicized relationship with Elastica frontwoman Justine Frischmann from 1991 to 1998.[28] This relationship profoundly influenced his songwriting, notably on the Blur album (1997) on the track "Beetlebum" – said to be about their experiences with heroin[144] – and a number of tracks on 13 (1999), such as "Tender" and "No Distance Left to Run", said to be about their break-up in 1998.
Albarn began a relationship with artist
It massively changes you. It slowly sort of shaves off the unpleasant thorny bits and hopefully creates a nicely rounded... I don't know, having a kid, you just become far more, inevitably you look to the future far more and, you know, it's desperate sometimes when you have a particularly bad few weeks of the newspaper just reminding you about this is wrong, this is wrong. We've got ten more years everyone.[146]
Albarn and Winstanley are speculated to have separated in 2023, with reviewers noting allusions to a breakup in the lyrics of Blur's ninth studio album The Ballad of Darren (2023). Albarn has declined to specify if these lyrics are related to his relationship status with Winstanley.[147] However, in an interview with Paris Match, he stated that he had had a difficult breakup within the last few months, without mentioning anyone by name.[148]
In 2006, Albarn was awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree from the University of East London, saying it was "great to receive [the] award from an institution where my dad used to work and which I, as a child, used to think of as that big building with lots of interesting people in".[149]
In 2015, Albarn was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen's New Year Honours list of December 31, which recognises British citizens for their achievements in public life and service to the United Kingdom.[150]
In 2016, Albarn, a long-time advocate of the music of Mali, titling his 2002 album Mali Music, has been given the title "Local King", and has had a school of music and dance named after him south of Bamako.[151]
In 2020, Albarn was granted Icelandic citizenship. He visited the country in the mid-90s for recording, as well as on holiday, and subsequently bought a house in Reykjavík.[152]
Albarn is known to have homes in the Notting Hill neighbourhood of London, and Devon.[9] Albarn is a fan of Chelsea F.C.[153]
Philanthropy
Albarn has been an active supporter of various charities and philanthropic efforts throughout his career as a musician and has been involved in various charity albums and singles. DRC Music, a collective formed by Albarn, released their debut album Kinshasa One Two as a charity album in which all of the money earned is given to Oxfam.[154] Albarn has also formed a collective with Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, and Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos to make a charity single with the money earned from that single also donated to Oxfam.[155] In 2013 Albarn, alongside fellow Blur bandmate Graham Coxon, performed live with former rival Noel Gallagher of Oasis and Paul Weller of the Jam to play Blur's 1999 single "Tender" in support of Teenage Cancer Trust.[156][157][158]
Politics and activism
In 2005, Albarn, among others, criticised the London Live 8 concert for not featuring enough black artists; among the few included were Ms. Dynamite, Snoop Dogg, and Youssou N'Dour. Eventually the organisers added a separate concert at the Eden Project in Cornwall to the programme to showcase African musicians. Albarn said he did not want to perform at Live 8 because he thought it was too "exclusive" and may have been motivated by self-promotion.[127]
Albarn has been a vocal critic of celebrity culture, saying: "We need to dismantle very significant parts of our culture and really re-examine them. I suppose you start with the celebrity thing... you have to get rid of things like The X Factor immediately."[159]
Albarn was a vocal critic of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union, describing it as "wrong" and saying that "it doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever."[160] Albarn was a signatory on a 2018 editorial advocating for a "Citizen's Assembly" to resolve the parliamentary deadlock over withdrawal terms.[161] Albarn stated that the Good, the Bad & the Queen album Merrie Land (2018) was inspired by Brexit and his reaction to it.[162]
Albarn has been a vocal supporter of Palestinian rights, cancelling concerts in Israel following the Gaza flotilla raid in 2010[163] and played a concert at the Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East Gala Dinner in 2014.
Anti-war activism
Albarn is
"Each individual has their own opinions about whether war is an answer to any problems. Personally I think it's a waste of time, but I think more importantly, that it's an issue that we haven't had any say in. That's why I feel so strongly about it. I don't feel like we've really been given any choice in this matter. I think if you had a referendum tomorrow, Tony Blair would have no choice but to call off the war."
—Albarn on Britain's involvement with the Iraq invasion[169]
In 2002,
Albarn revealed that originally, many people whom he knew were against the Iraq War were reluctant to take a stand, stating "to be honest with you when Robert Del Naja and myself started really stepping up prior to the war it was very difficult to find anyone. And I don't want to name any names because they are people who I respect but they were really, for some reason, very reticent to stand with us. A lot of people who you would now associate with being anti-war at that particular point didn't seem to be prepared to do it."[146]
He was due to speak in Hyde Park on the rally in February 2003 when a million people took to the streets of London in protest at the imminent war. In the event, he was too emotional to deliver his speech.[173] Albarn later revealed that he had "this image of my grandad in his slippers reading the paper, knowing that his grandson had been involved in something which he'd put so much of his life into" and "got over-emotional". He also stated that "it obviously wasn't the best moment to get in that state, when you're at the head of the biggest peace march in the history of this country."[16] Albarn also attended a protest in November where he commented on the diversity of people in attendance, saying that "It represents everybody. It's the voice in our democracy and that's why we should be listened to."[174] Speaking about the experience in 2008, Albarn stated:
I think in this case the only reason we went to war was the result of our individual apathy in the end. You know, our inability to really express what was I think was a consensus that this was a terrifying idea and a very badly thought-out one.[146]
Discography
Solo albums
Collaboration albums
- Mali Music (2002) (with Afel Bocoum, Toumani Diabaté & Friends)
- The Good, the Bad & the Queen (2007) (with The Good, the Bad & the Queen)
- Kinshasa One Two (2011) (as part of DRC Music)
- Rocket Juice & the Moon (2012) (with Flea and Tony Allen as part of "Rocket Juice and the Moon")
- Maison Des Jeunes (2013) (as part of Africa Express)
- In C Mali (2014) (as part of Africa Express)
- The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians and Guests (2016) (with Africa Express)
- Merrie Land (2018) (with The Good, the Bad & the Queen)
- Molo (EP) (2019) (with Africa Express)
- Egoli (2019) (with Africa Express)
Awards and nominations
Denmark GAFFA Awards
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | |
---|---|---|---|---|
2022 | Himself | International Solo Act | Pending | [175] |
The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows | International Album | Pending |
Mercury Prize
The Mercury Prize is a highly prestigious annual music prize awarded for the best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland. Nominations are chosen by a panel of musicians, music executives, journalists and other figures in the music industry in the UK and Ireland.[176]
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|
2014 | Everyday Robots | Album of the Year | Nominated |
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards.[177]
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|
2013 |
Damon Albarn | British Producer of the Year | Nominated |
2015 |
Damon Albarn | British Male Solo Artist | Nominated |
Further reading
Martin Roach, David Nolan, Damon Albarn – Blur, Gorillaz and Other Fables (John Blake Publishing, 2015)
Nicolas Sauvage, Damon Albarn l'échapée belle (Camion Blanc Eds, 2020)
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{{cite web}}
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External links
- Official website
- Damon Albarn discography at Discogs
- Damon Albarn at IMDb
- Damon Albarn pieces including video interviews on BBC Imagine, bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
- Damon Albarn interview at musicOMH
- Albarn's Mali mission, BBC News. Retrieved 2 March 2014.