- published: 26 Mar 2015
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Damon Albarn (/ˈdeɪmən ˈælbɑrn/; born 23 March 1968) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and record producer who has been involved in many high profile projects, coming to prominence as the frontman and primary songwriter of the Britpop band Blur. Albarn's current role is lead vocalist and songwriter of Gorillaz, whose first two studio albums had sold more than 20 million copies combined by 2007. Albarn has also led projects such as The Good, the Bad & the Queen, Monkey: Journey to the West, Mali Music and Rocket Juice & the Moon. Albarn has released multiple singles and albums which have charted at number one, both in the UK and internationally.
Albarn was voted the fourth greatest frontman of all time in a 2010 UK Poll for Q Music magazine.
Albarn was born in Whitechapel, London in 1968, and grew up with his middle-class, Quaker family in Leytonstone, later moving to Colchester. He attended the George Tomlinson Primary School, and studied piano and violin. When he was 9 years old he moved for three months to Turkey, with his parents. When he was aged 12, he became friends with Graham Coxon, a fellow pupil at Stanway School.