 raham Leslie Coxon was
born in Germany because his dad worked as an army
bandsman there. They lived in the country for five years before moving
to Derbyshire to live with his grandfather. Three years later the family moved to Colchester. It wasn't
until attending Stanway Comprehensive School when Graham developed his great interest for music.
After discovering 2 Tone and The Jam, he
taught himself to play the saxophone and guitar, both
with ease. Drums were also one of his instruments.
At Stanway he
be-friended with an unusual character called Damon
Albarn. They had the same taste when it came to fashion
and their fascination with music was mutual. While
the other boys ran over the football pitch, Damon and
Graham went behind the music block and talked about
bands. They were clearly aware of the fact that they were
the school weirdos, but it didn't bother them. Soon after, they both went on holiday with
Graham's parents, cementing an already close friendship
which would go on to form the foundation for the success
of Blur. After Stanway, Graham headed
for Colchester Art College, but since Damon had left for London, he moved to Goldsmiths
College to study Fine Arts.
At Goldsmiths he became friends with Alex
James and they shared interests in art and had their own
art group called Nichtkunst. Once again Graham met Damon
who then took a part-time course at Goldsmiths and they remained in
daily contact. Graham often attended Damon's
solo gigs and played saxophone and drums on one of
Damon's demos. He also knew Dave Rowntree since they had played
together in bands called Hazel Dean And The Carp Enters
From Hell, The Curious Band and Idle Vice.
Soon Graham was asked to play guitar in
Circus (Damon, Dave, Eddie Deedigan and Dave Brolan).
When the band had lost Eddie Deedigan and Dave Brolan,
Graham introduced Alex as a potential bass player and
they changed their name to Seymour. The rest is
history...
Graham split-up with his Swedish girlfriend
Anna Norlander in 2001. Their child, called
Pepper Bäck Troy, was born on March 7, 2000.Due to personal reasons, he left Blur in 2002, but
reunited for a quick meeting in 2007. The official Blur reunion was
confirmed in late 2008, when the band announced they would play gigs
next summer.
Besides Blur
Solo albums
Graham has released seven solo
studio albums
to date. The first five albums were
released on his own (now de-funct) record label Transcopic.
Graham's
debut solo album The Sky Is Too High was
released in 1998. The Golden D followed
in 2000 and introduced the heavy metal and experimental side of Graham.
The third
album Crow Sit On Blood
Tree was released in 2001. Like on previous albums, Graham
played all the instruments and produced it
himself. The album was
recorded, mixed and mastered only in two weeks, making it feel
very raw and honest.
Autumn 2002 saw the
release of The
Kiss Of Morning that featured guest musicians for the first time
and introduced a range of new styles from Graham.
The following three Graham's albums were produced
by the former Blur producer Stephen Street.
Happiness In Magazines, which hit the shops in 2004, has been his
most successful and critically acclaimed album so far; fuelled by the
hit single "Freakin' Out", the album hit Top 20 in the UK. Love
Travels At Illegal Speeds was released in 2006 and scored two Top
40 hits. The Spinning Top, which drew
influences from English folk music, was released in May 2009.
In July 2010, Graham finished the
work on around 20 new songs, which he apparently plans to put out as two albums. The
first album is titled A+E and will be released on 2nd April 2012.
As of February 2012, the second album is not yet confirmed, but it is
likely to be out in 2013.
Miscellaneous
- In the 1990s, Graham
played saxophone on Sleeper's single
"Vegas" and guitar on Liz Horsman's
"This Is Blue". He possibly appeared on
Menswear's debut album Nuisance as he's
credited in the album's 'thank you' notes as
Morgan C Hoax (anagram).
- He
produced Transcopic bands Assembly Line People
Program's and Mower's debut albums.
- He
joined Idlewild on stage during their appearance
at the Reading Festival 2000 and played saxophone
on the track "Captain". He has also
played drums on a live gig with Elastica.
- Remixed the
Idlewild track "Rusty", Lowgold's "Beauty Dies Young" and Beastie Boys' "Triple Trouble".
- Graham wrote and recorded the
soundtrack for the UK thriller
Curio
(2010).
For the full list and details of Graham's
musical appearances outside Blur, see
Graham Coxon Discography.
Song List also lists appearances outside Blur.
Printer-friendly version |
