 raham Leslie Coxon was
born in Germany because his dad worked as a army
bandsman. They lived in Germany for five years, then they
moved to Derbyshire to live with his grandfather and
three years later they moved on to Colchester. It wasn't
until he attended Stanway Comprehensive School that he
developed his great interest for music.
After discovering Two Tone and The Jam he
taught himself to play the saxophone and the guitar, both
with crediable ease and also played drums.
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 mutural. 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 Graham left the comprehensive he headed
for Colchester Art College, but since Damon had left for
London, Graham moved to Goldsmiths College where he
enrolled on a Fine Arts Degree Course.
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 he 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.
Besides Blur
Solo albums
Graham has released six 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 last two Graham's albums have
been 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. The latest album, entitled
Love Travels At Illegal Speeds, was released in 2006
and scored two Top 40 hits.
As of April 2008, Graham has
finished recording his seventh studio album due out late summer.
Miscellaneous
- Graham
played saxophone on the Sleepers 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).
- Remixed the
Idlewild track "Rusty", Lowgold's "Beauty Dies Young" and Beastie Boys' "Triple Trouble".
- 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.
- He
produced Transcopic bands Assembly Line People
Program's and Mower's debut albums.
For the full list and details of Graham's
musical appearances outside Blur, see
Graham Coxon Discography.
Song List also lists appearances outside Blur.
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