Graham Coxon

Graham Leslie Coxon (born 12 March 1969) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter who came to prominence as a founding member of the rock band Blur.

His musical interests were heavily influenced by Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett, whose work he had discovered by 1986.

He quit college due to the increasing success of his band at the time, Seymour, which later changed its name to Blur because the recording company, Food Records, thought Seymour was too 'student-ish'.

They presented a list to the band of preferred names which included "The Shining Path" and "Blur".

As well as providing all guitars, backing vocals, and occasional drums, Coxon's lo-fi and alternative musical style and tastes influenced the band's less commercial music in the late 1990s.

He sang lead vocals on songs including "Red Necks", "You're So Great" from the album Blur, and "Coffee & TV", as well as a section of the chorus of "Tender", the bridge of "Lonesome Street" and a section of "Thought I Was a Spaceman" on The Magic Whip.

During the 1995 period of the media-dubbed 'Battle of Britpop', Coxon became increasingly weary and suspicious of the music industry.

His behaviour was occasionally awkward, such as refusing to appear in the video for Blur song "Country House" unless he could dress as a milkman and take no part in any action with which he felt uncomfortable.

He has also led a solo career since 1998, producing and playing all instrumentation on his solo albums.

His first, The Sky Is Too High was released on his own Transcopic label in 1998.

As well as being a musician, Coxon is a visual artist: he designed the cover art for all his solo albums as well as Blur's 13 (1999).

Coxon plays several instruments and records his albums with little assistance from session musicians.

Q magazine critic Adrian Deevoy has written: "Coxon is an astonishing musician. His restless playing style – all chord slides, rapid pulloffs, mini-arpeggios and fractured runs – seems to owe more to his saxophone training than any conventional guitar tuition."

An innovative lead guitarist, he has been described by Oasis bandmember Noel Gallagher as "one of the most talented guitarists of his generation."

This was followed by The Golden D in 2000 and Crow Sit on Blood Tree in 2001.

In November 2001 Coxon was admitted to the Priory Hospital for 28 days to be treated for alcoholism.

During this time, Blur began the recording sessions that would produce the material for their next album, Think Tank.

In February 2002, Coxon rejoined the band in the studio for the rest of the recording of Think Tank but after five days was asked by then manager Chris Morrison not to go back into the studio as the other members of the band had reported that the session was not going too well with him present.

Coxon took this as a sign and left the band.

Coxon had already released three solo albums while a member of Blur before his 2002 departure.

After going solo full-time, he released The Kiss of Morning in 2002.

The album was promoted with the single "Escape Song".

As the group's lead guitarist and secondary vocalist, Coxon is featured on all of Blur's studio discography (although 2003's Think Tank only features his playing on one album track, plus two B-side tracks, due to his temporary departure from the band during recording sessions for the album).

His last contribution to Blur was a song called "Battery in Your Leg", the closing song on Blur's 2003 album Think Tank, before leaving the line-up.

Damon Albarn later revealed that the song "Sweet Song" was written after he had been looking at a photograph of Coxon.

In 2004, Coxon released his fifth solo album Happiness in Magazines, produced by ex-Blur and The Smiths producer Stephen Street.

As he stated in an interview in 2006, "I had a breakthrough, I think my life just became calmer, I gave up drinking. My priorities changed as I had a young daughter. The group didn't want me to record for the Think Tank album, so I took it as a sign to leave".

After Damon Albarn's revealing that he and Coxon had rebuilt their relationship, on 9 December 2008, Blur announced that the whole band would reunite for a show at Hyde Park on 3 July 2009.

More dates were announced and the band played festival dates at Glastonbury, T in the Park and Oxegen 2009 as well as headlining shows in Manchester, Newcastle, Wolverhampton, Goldsmiths College and the East Anglian Railway Museum in Colchester.

Blur also played one show in Lyon, France.

Coxon was voted the 15th greatest guitarist of the last 30 years in a 2010 BBC poll.

Coxon was born in Rinteln, West Germany, where his father, Bob Coxon, was stationed as a clarinet player and band leader in the British Army.

As a child, he moved first to Spondon, Derby, England, a period during which he became a fan of Derby County.

He then moved to Colchester, Essex, England, where he grew up and met fellow Blur member Damon Albarn at The Stanway School, then known as Stanway Comprehensive, at the age of 11.

At the beginning of their relationship, Coxon would play the saxophone on Albarn's original songs before playing the guitar in several small Colchester bands.

He appeared on the popular BBC children's show Blue Peter twice.

Coxon studied Fine Arts at Goldsmiths College, London, for two years, where early on he met bassist Alex James.

In his time there he mixed with upcoming talents such as Damien Hirst, Michael Landy, Sam Taylor-Wood, and Abigail Lane, some of the future leading lights of the Britart movement.

On 17 April 2010, the band released their first single since 2003, "Fool's Day", for the Record Store Day event as a 7" limited to 1000 copies. The band released the single as a free download on their official website the next day. More recently Blur announced via the NME website that they would reunite every so often and record more singles, preferably on 7 inch. However, Damon also stated that an album was not on its way as they were all too busy with their own individual projects.

On 19 February 2015, Coxon and the band announced on social media that they would be releasing their eighth studio album on 27 April, titled The Magic Whip, Blur's first album in 12 years and first in 16 years in their original lineup.