Damon Albarn

Damon Albarn , born the March 23rd 1968 in Whitechapel Hospital, East London. Singer, pianist and often type-setter of the groups Blur, Gorillaz and The Good, the Bad and the Queen. He is also the creator of the pop opera Monkey, Journey to the West , inspired by the one of the myths founders of Chinese civilization, with Jamie Hewlett.

Biography

He lives until the 10 years age in a house of the victorienne type to Leytonstone, East London. Damon goes to George Thompson Primary School, before the family does not move for Colchester, in a house of the 14th century when trônent odd plastic chairs offered by Cat Stevens to the father of Damon .

Musical formation

To Colchester, it spends its time listening to groups such as the Jam, or Madness and the Specials, it will discover the Kinks at that time. But its love first goes to the classical music which did not leave it since, in its training of the piano and the violin. The Lark Ascending of Vaughan Williams figure among his preferred pieces, which will lead it to compose. Its talents in this field are worth with the one of its partitions to be noticed within the framework of the assistance of “young type-setter of the year”.

In spite of its natural gifts for the music, Damon fails in this matter its baccalaureat and, instead of persevering, chooses to return in East 15. It is about a school of dramatic art to the not very orthodoxe methods, which quickly will make it give up. Then it fits in a school of visual arts to London. During this time that one will describe as hedonist, Damon works of day like boy of races in Happy Factories studios, like with the Crescent, with Euston. The night it composes with the studio. What will save it is his/her grandfather, who will advance 3.000 books to him to carry out a demonstration. It founds the Seymour group in 1989 in London with the guitarist Graham Coxon and the bass player Alex James. Joined by the beater Dave Rowntree, they change their name into Blur on the councils of the leaders of Food Records, their label. Extracted from their first album Leisure , individual the She' S So High and There' S No Other Way are well accommodated. During two years, Blur tries to move away from the scene baggy of Manchester by recording individual the punk Pop Scene . This title is a failure.

The group leaves its second album Modern Life Is Rubbish in 1993, after some problems with its recording company which forces them to add the titles For Tomorrow and Chemical World . In 1994, Blur records Parklife with individual the dance pop Girls and Boys . It signs then the pop album The Great Escape in 1995 then takes a radical turning with an album éponyme with American sonorities in 1997. Blur made its return in 1999 with a new album baptized 13 . Damon Albarn is devoted then to the project Gorillaz before reforming Blur (but without Graham Coxon, become too depend with the Drogue S with the eyes of the other members on the group). With the two other remaining members it signs Think Tank in 2003, produced by Norman Cook. He also works with the project Mali music, with an album left in 2001.

The director Antonia Bird entrusts to Damon Albarn a role in the film Face (1997) before requesting it in 1999 to compose the original soundtrack of the film Vorace ( Ravenous ) (in collaboration with Michael Nyman).

Influences

There are enormously groups to quote, the more so as the influences of Damon Albarn evolve/move with time. We could speak initially about his traditional influence, with Vaughan Williams and Erik Satie. Pops groups like the Jam, Madness and Specials; and the songwriting of the Kinks and in particular Ray Davies at the time of the movement Britpop. Today Damon Albarn turns to the artists American undergrounds such as the Pixies, the Beastie Boys, Pavement, Sonic Youth, etc It forever really liked the rock'n'roll metal, with share certain groups such as Deftones. But its desire of experimentation pushing it always further, it seems to be interested recently in the cuban and African traditional music.

Marital status

After the rupture of its relation very mediatized with the singer of the group Elastica, Justine Frischmann, Damon spins the perfect love with Suzy Winstanley, an artist of cuban origin. From this union October 2nd 1999, small Missy was born the . The choice of the first name in be allocated to the dad, thus paying homage to raspy the Missy Elliott.

Damon lives today in the district of Notting Hill, with London, but it is always attached to the Iceland, country with which it fell in love during the period with writing with Blur . It has there an apartment and shares in a bar with Reykjavik, Kaffinbarin.

Anecdotes

It had a gold ring of his/her mother to the left ear during her period britpop. Now, it does not have it more, as its collar of pearls imagination which his/her mother made. But it has in the place a gold signet ring with three lions engraved above and of the bracelets of Mali (which it obviously lost in a show deprived in Madrid). It would seem that in addition to tattooing “Mum” registers on its left arm, it would have another of them on the right-hand man, a small heart with “Suzi” (his/her partner) and “Missy” (his/her daughter) registered above. One can see this image, seems it, in individual CD Out Of Time , song of the album Think Tank .

He would be vegetarian since the 16 years age. The cause is the following one: “The last time that I ate meat was when I was approximately sixteen years old. I had taken a beefsteak and I disappeared because of the very strong protein amounts. ”

It is very hostile with the policy of Bush and took part in demonstrations against the war in Iraq in the town of London.

He is the founder and the owner of the independent label Honest Jon' S .

It is left-handed but plays of the guitar like a droitier.

Topicality

In 2007, it composed a Opéra-rock inspired of a Chinese novel of Wu Cheng' in: Monkey, Journey to the West . This spectacle was presented for the first time to the Theater De luxe hotel of Manchester then to Paris to the Théâtre of Châtelet before being presented, in July 2008, in Staatsoper Unter den Linden of Berlin. The visual design was ensured by Jamie Hewlett and the setting in scene by Chen Shi-Zheng.

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