Damon Albarn OBE (DLitt)

Wednesday 17 July 2024 11:45am

Musical polymath Damon Albarn is one of the UK’s most prolific and influential artists. The creative force on over 40 albums: band projects, solo albums, collaborations, operas and film soundtracks and recipient of 6 Brits, 2 Ivor Novellos and a Grammy.

blur’s debut Leisure in 1991 marked the start of an extensive and eclectic career. Iconic works for blur and later Gorillaz are interspersed with film soundtracks, contributing to Ravenous (1999) with Michael Nyman and Reykjavik 101 (2001). An Oxfam commission gave rise to the transformative Mali Music (2002) made in Bamako with Afel Bocoum & Toumani Diabaté and Kinshasa One Two (2011). Then, with Africa Express, came Maison De Jeunes (2013) followed by the formation The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians for an eponymous studio album and the opening slot at Glastonbury 2016.

Albarn’s first full opera Monkey: Journey To The West debuted at Manchester International Festival in 2007 and was followed by operas and musicals Dr Dee (2011) Wonder.land (2015) and most recently, Le Vol du Boli (2021).

Added to 9 studio albums with blur and 8 with Gorillaz, Albarn has also recorded 2 albums with The Good The Bad & The Queen, 2 solo albums, Everyday Robots (2014) and The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows (2021) and has also produced for others, from Kano to Amadou & Miriam, and most proudly, writing and producing for Bobby Womack’s final album The Bravest Man In The Universe, released in 2012.