 amon Albarn was
born to a hippy family in Leytonstone, East London. His
mother, Hazel Albarn worked as a stage designer for Joan
Littlewood's theatre company at the Theatre Royal
Stratford East in London and was working on Mrs Wilson's
Diary just before Damon was born. Damon's father, an
artist Keith Albarn was mainly involved in TV arts
programming and was interested in designing and making
modern furniture. He eventually became the manager of art
jazz-rock group Soft Machine. Hazel Albarn came from
Lincolnshire and Keith Albarn from Nottinghamshire. When
they had met each other, they decided to move to London
to experience its wide cultural-scene. When Damon was
growing up, his parents listened mostly to old blues,
Indian ragas and African music. Damon didn't apparently
like much of them. His sister, Jessica (an artist, too)
was born in 1971.
Damon was a relatively normal
child. He was keen on football and his room was filled
with the fossils. Since the age of six he has been
wearing the glass beads, which he got from his mother.
"They give me luck" he has later said. He was
attending the George Thomlinson Primary School and at the
later age moved to the Stanway Comprehensive School.
Ten years after Damon's birth
Albarns moved to Colchester, Essex, where Keith Albarn
had got a new job. Around the time of moving Damon was
spending three months in Turkey with family friends. When
he came back he began studying violin and piano and got
interested in drama. Because of his unconventional
background he was considered weird and vain and often got
called "posh stroke gay" at Stanway
Comprehensive. "I was weirdo", he recalls. At
the time he was really keen on drama and took part in
many school plays and quickly became one of the school's
"stars". Damon was also interested in composing
music and one of his compositions won a heat in the
nationwide Young Composer of the Year competition. He has
later claimed that classical composer Kurt Weill's music
had a more effect on his musical development than any pop
song writer.
At the age of 12 Damon met a year
younger Graham Coxon. "Your brogues are crap, mate.
Look, mine are the proper sort" were Damon's exact
first words to Graham. They both liked The Jam, Human
Leagune, XTC and Madness and soon became the best
friends.
One of the first bands Damon was
involved along with Graham was The Aftermath, which
didn't get anywhere. The Aftermath's follower was Real
Lives, where Damon was on the vocals and played the
piano. The band made a few appearances in local pubs and
clubs without any real success.
In the mid-eighties Damon lost his
interest to music temporary, concentrated wholly in
drama, and moved to Debden to study at the East 15 Drama
School. After a year he thought he was "the worst
actor in the world" and decided to go back home. At
the time he was very depressed and having a bad time. He
took a part-time music course at the Goldsmiths College
in South London, where he met Graham again and worked as
a barman in London's Portobello Hotel. Later, he worked
at the Le Croissaint at Euston Station in London and soon
after as a tea boy at the Beat Factory studio (owned by
Graeme Holdaway) near Le Croissaint. At nights, he worked
on his music at the studio.
With the help of the Beat Factory
he got involved in an odd synth-band called Two's A Crowd
with Sam Vamplew. After writing a few songs, Damon
withdrew the band and joined Circus in 1988. Circus was
formed initially by Damon's college friend Tom Aitkenhead
and Eddie Deedigan, who quit the band later. Soon
guitarist Graham Coxon, drummer Dave Rowntree and bassist
Alex James were picked up to Circus. Due to Damon's
accelerated musical development, Circus experienced many
radical musical changes. The band evolved into Seymour,
which later changed its name to Blur.
Until around 1998 Damon had a
relationship with Elastica's Justine Frischmann. He is
now involved with an artist Suzi Winstanley. On October
2, 1999, they got a baby, named Missy.
Source: 3862 Days by
Stuart Maconie
Besides Blur
Monkey: Journey To
The West (2007-2008)
A Chinese opera featuring an eclectic
score written by Damon. The opera was premiered in Manchester in the
summer of
2007, followed by performances in France and USA. An album based on
the score was released in August 2008.
The
Good, The Bad & The Queen (2007)
Damon was the frontman behind The
Good, The Bad & The Queen, the London-themed album that was released in
early 2007. He worked on the project with drummer Tony
Allen, bassist Paul Simonon and guitarist Simon Tong.
Democrazy (2003)Damon
released a low profile solo album called Democrazy
in 2003 through
his own 'world music' label Honest
Jon's.
The album was compiled of raw demos
he recorded on a four track in hotel rooms during
Blur's US tour in the same year.
Mali Music (2002)
Mali Music, the
album based on recordings Damon made whilst
visiting Mali on a trip for Oxfam, was released
in 2002 partly through Honest Jon's. A couple of years later, he
visited Nigeria to make music with Tony Allen and his band members
(the project evolved into The
Good, The Bad & The Queen).
Gorillaz (2000-)
Damon
Albarn and cartoonist Jamie Hewlett are the
creators of the cartoon band Gorillaz. Damon
writes the songs and provides vocals on the
majority of them while Jamie directs the videos
and draws the band. The band has been a huge
success around the world selling over 15 million
copies of their two studio albums, Gorillaz
and Demon Days.
SoundtracksDamon has
worked a lot on the movie soundtracks. He
collaborated with classical composer Michael
Nyman and recorded a soundtrack for Ravenous
in 1998. A
year later, he worked with
with
ex-Sugarcube Einar Örn Benediktsson on the
soundtrack for 101 Reykjavik. He also
wrote and recorded five tracks for Ordinary
Decent Criminal and
penned "Closet Romantic"
for Trainspotting.
Miscellaneous
- Acted as Jason in the movie
Face in 1997. More recently, he has lend
his voice to an animated character in the
Icelandic animation movie Anna & The Moods
(2007).
- Fatboy Slim album
Palookaville features Damon on "Put It Back Together". Also,
the last
Marianne Faithfull album Before The Poison
includes a song co-written by Damon.
- He appeared
on the Dan The Automator's (former Gorillaz producer)
hip-hop project Deltron 3030 where he provided vocals to "Time Keeps
On Slipping". Another Dan The Automator project album,
Lovage - Music To Make Love To Your Old Lady By,
also features Damon on
it.
- He worked with Matt Sharp on a
Gary Numan tribute album where he sang and played keyboards on
"We Have A Technical". He also appeared on The Rentals album
Seven More Minutes.
For the full list and details of Damon's musical
appearances outside Blur, see
Damon Albarn Discography.
Song List also lists appearances outside Blur.
Printer-friendly version |
