DAMON-ALBARN.COM

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Damon 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 older sister, Jessica(an artist as well) was born in 1965.

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 George Thomlinson Primary School at the time and at a later age moved to Stanway Comprehensive School.

Ten years after Damon's birth, the 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 was often called "posh stroke gay" at Stanway Comprehensive. "I was a 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 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 best friends.

One of the first bands Damon was involved in along with Graham, was The Aftermath. Which didn't get too far. The Aftermath's follower was Real Lives, where Damon was on vocals and played the piano. The band made a few appearances in local pubs and clubs, but without any real success.

In the mid-eighties, Damon lost his interest in music. He temporarily 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. 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. He spent his nights working on his music at the Beat Factory and managed to produce several early Blur songs like "Birthday".

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 from the band and joined Circus in 1988, which 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, who later changed their name to Blur.

Until around 1998, Damon had a long-time relationship with Elastica's Justine Frischmann. He is now involved with an artist named Suzi Winstanley. On October 2nd, 1999, they had a daughter together, named Missy.

Source: 3862 Days by Stuart Maconie.
Please DO NOT use the text on your site without permission.
Credit: Veikko Hynninen @ Veikko's Blur Page with slight modifications by me.