Damon Albarn

Jordan Mendelevitch

Class: C

(March 23, 1968-)

You may have heard of the virtual band Gorillaz, but do you know who’s behind it? Damon Albarn is the composer of the popular virtual band Gorillaz, the vocalist in the experimental rock band Blur, as well as a solo artist. Damon Albarn has worked to influence others to experiment in their art of choice and furthermore, and has pioneered in britpop.

Damon Albarn was born in Whitechapel, United Kingdom on March 23, 1968 into a Bohemian household on the east end of London. With his family having a love for music, he was raised learning a number of instruments such as piano, guitar, and violin. When Damon was 10 he moved to Colchester, Essex.

Since before getting involved in the music scene, Damon was never fond of the idea of genre. He feels that you shouldn’t expect anything specific from music, and you should just enjoy it. He has set many examples with this attitude such as his song Seattle Yodel, in which he used a yodeling pickle toy and made a song purely out of it. Damon consistently uses multiple influences per song and attempts to experiment and sway others to attempt so as well. Damon has also donated much of his earned wealth to charity.

Damon has made it clear he’s always had interest in forming a musical group, and since he formed Blur when he was 21, he has started a solo career and the experimental “band” Gorillaz. He has been publicly composing and co-composing music for 28 years, and constantly pushing the message of experimenting.

Furthermore, Damon has innovated and gathered a large following due to his success with the previously mentioned virtual band Gorillaz. Gorillaz is a duo consisting of Damon (Composer) and Jamie Hewlett (Visual Artist). The band was started in 1998 with their self named debut studio album Gorillaz in 2001. Before Gorillaz, the virtual band aspect was only seen in tv shows such as Alvin and the Chipmunks. And this helps illustrate the point of Damon’s experimentation and innovation.

Damon Albarn is a talented composer, a leader in modern musical experimentation, and a role model change maker. Since Damon was a kid, he's always been constantly iterating and trying new things. This is why Damon Albarn is a role model change maker.

Bibliography:

“Damon Albarn.” Encyclopedia Britannica. 2012. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. June 29, 2012 <https://www.britannica.com/biography/Damon-Albarn>