Damon Albarn

Biography

Damon Albarn is a singer, songwriter, producer and composer whose eclectic musical style and observational lyrics have made him one of the UK’s most influential and consistently interesting musicians. 

The singer with Blur and Gorillaz, he is the recipient of four Brits, two Ivor Novello Awards and a Grammy Award.

Outside of Blur and Gorillaz, Albarn has a number of other releases, including Mali Music (2002), The Good The Bad and The Queen (2006), Monkey: Journey to the West (2007), Kinshasa One Two (2011), Rocket Juice & The Moon (2012), Dr Dee (2012), Africa Express Presents: Maison Des Jeunes (2013), Africa Express Presents: The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians (2016), Merrie Land (2018), Africa Express Presents: Egoli (2019), as well as his Mercury Award-nominated debut solo album Everyday Robots (2014).

Albarn’s first full-length opera composition, Monkey: Journey to the West premiered at Manchester International Festival in 2007. Created in collaboration with Jamie Hewlett and Chen Shi Zheng, Monkey was performed entirely in Mandarin and went on to show at the Royal Opera House, the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, and the Spoleto Festival in Charleston. His second opera Dr Dee, co-created with Rufus Norris, premiered at Manchester International Festival in 2011 to widespread critical acclaim ahead of a successful run at ENO’s London Coliseum. Wonder.land, a musical with music by Albarn and dircted by Rufus Norris, made its world premiere at MIF in July 2015 before transferring to London‘s Royal National Theatre from November 2015, ahead of a run at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, in 2016.

Albarn is co-founder of record label Honest Jons and has also produced music for Gorillaz, Amadou & Mariam, written music for the film soundtracks to 101 Reykjavik, Ravenous and Broken, and co-wrote and co-produced Bobby Womack’s acclaimed album The Bravest Man In The Universe (2012).

Song Machine – the cartoon music contraption which spits out brand new episodes fresh from the studio, as and when they happen – is the newest concept from Gorillaz, co-founded in 2001 by Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, and sees one of the most inventive bands around disrupt the paradigm and break convention once again.

Albarn lives in London with his family.