Who is Damon Albarn?
Short Answer:
Pop chameleon. Blur’s voice. Gorillaz’ ghost. Occasionally human.
Long Answer:
Full Name
Damon Albarn. No middle name. Doesn’t need one.
Born
23 March 1968, Whitechapel, London. Raised in Essex, of course. A town that built bands and resented them shortly after.
Occupation
Musician. Songwriter. Cultural sponge. Half the British music scene from 1991 onwards.
Known For
Lead singer of Blur. Co-creator of Gorillaz. Longtime enemy and secret twin of Liam Gallagher. Also did The Good, the Bad & the Queen, a few operas, a soundtrack about Mali, and roughly 10,000 other projects you forgot he made.
Voice
Southern. Sometimes sneering. Sometimes sighing. Occasionally sweet when he thinks no one’s listening.
Family
Partner: Suzi Winstanley. Longtime, quietly constant.
Children: One daughter. Low-key. Private.
Father: Keith Albarn. Artist. Designer. Countercultural educator. Built machines that lit up when you spoke to them. Raised Damon in a house full of ideas and arguments. Explains a lot.
Career Highlights
Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993). The start of the Britpop war. Blur loaded the gun. Oasis fired it.
Parklife (1994). Narrated by Phil Daniels. Celebrated by the tabloids. Misunderstood by half the people who danced to it.
13 (1999). Breakup album dressed as an experiment. Heartbroken and brilliant.
Gorillaz (2001 to present). Cartoon band. Real songs. Sold millions while pretending not to care.
Co-wrote an opera. Made an album about Lagos. Did a world music collective. Built a studio in a shipping container. Still hasn’t sat down.
Signature Look
Parkas swapped for charity shop suits. Hair somewhere between art student and geography teacher. Now wears his age like he earned it.
Signature Move
Changing direction the moment anyone figures him out.
Public Image
Too clever for his own good.
Often right. Occasionally insufferable.
Spent the 90s fighting a class war he was destined to lose. Turned it into art anyway.
Legacy
Wrote Tender, This is a Low, and Clint Eastwood. That covers most of the spectrum.
Blur gave British guitar music its self-awareness.
Gorillaz gave pop its weirdness back.
