Who is Graham Coxon?
Short Answer:
Guitarist. Blur’s secret weapon. Britpop’s outsider. Shy genius with a pedalboard.
Long Answer:
Full Name
Graham Leslie Coxon.
Born
12 March 1969, Rinteln, West Germany. Raised in Colchester, Essex. British Army kid with art-school blood.
Occupation
Guitarist. Singer. Songwriter. Illustrator. The quiet one who made the noise.
Known For
Lead guitarist of Blur. Architect of their most interesting moments. Walked out when it got too fake. Came back when it got real again.
Solo artist with eight albums to his name. Member of The WAEVE with Rose Elinor Dougall. The indie kids know. The rest never caught up.
Voice
Nervy. Cracks in all the right places. Not built for the spotlight, which is why it works.
Family
Partner: Rose Elinor Dougall.
Children: At least one daughter, kept well out of the press.
Dad was in the British Army. Mum taught school. Raised with discipline and sketchpads.
Career Highlights
Leisure (1991). Helped make shoegaze sound sharper.
Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993). Pitched the guitars like it was a street fight.
13 (1999). Took the wheel while Damon unravelled.
Quit Blur in 2002. Came back in 2009. Did it on his terms.
The Spinning Top (2009). Acoustic. Bleak. Beautiful.
The WAEVE (2023). Romantic, weird, baroque. Very Coxon.
Also did the music for The End of the F**ing World*. Nailed the tone exactly, of course.
Signature Look
Charity shop jumpers. Glasses. Slight hunch like he’s dodging compliments. Once Britpop’s least willing pin-up.
Signature Move
Melting a melody into feedback without blinking. Making a Telecaster sound like it’s trying to escape.
Public Image
The awkward one.
The arty one.
The one most likely to actually know who Syd Barrett was, and why it mattered.
Looked uncomfortable in every photo shoot. Which made him the most honest one there.
Legacy
Turned Blur from a pop band into something weirder and better.
Played guitar like he was trying to out-think the song, and usually did.
Went solo to save himself. Came back to save the band.
