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. He is the recipient of six 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). Song Machine: Season One - Strange Timez (2020) is the newest concept from Gorillaz, co-founded in 2001 by Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. Albarn’s first full-length opera composition, Monkey: Journey to the West premiered at MIF in 2007. Created in collaboration with Jamie Hewlett and Chen Shi Zheng. His second opera Dr Dee, co-created with Rufus Norris, premiered at MIF in 2011. Wonder.land, a musical with music by Albarn and directed by Rufus Norris, made its world premiere at MIF in July 2015. The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows, Damon's second solo studio album, was released by Transgressive Records on 12th November 2021. Albarn lives in London with his family.