Damon Albarn

Damon Albarn is a grand pop conceptualist, spearheading the Brit-pop movement's blend of knowingly retro aesthetics and modernist zeal through his work with Blur before exploring hip-hop, art rock, and global traditions, both with Gorillaz and others, and as a solo artist. Blur brought Albarn stardom when Parklife became a pop phenomenon in 1994, but after its 1995 sequel, The Great Escape, the band steered in a noisier, artier course. Such shifts in direction became a signature of Albarn's career. Once Blur began to fray at the dawn of the 2000s, he founded Gorillaz, a virtua...