Graham Coxon
Graham Coxon singing in the video to Blur's "Tender"
Background information
Birth name	Graham Coxon
Born	March 12, 1969 (1969-03-12) (age 38)
Origin	Derbyshire, England
Genre(s)	Alternative Rock, Britpop
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist
Instrument(s)	Guitar, Bass guitar, Drums and Percussion
Years active	1988 - present
Associated acts	Blur
Website	grahamcoxon.co.uk
Notable instrument(s)
Fender 52' Telecaster

Graham Coxon (born Graham Leslie Coxon on 12 March 1969, in Rinteln, West Germany) is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter. He is best known as the guitarist in the rock band Blur. His artistic and musical contribution is prominently featured on the band's first six albums, from 1991's Leisure to 1999's 13. The latter's cover was also designed by Coxon.

He is also a critically acclaimed solo artist with six solo albums, half of them recorded while still a member of the band. Coxon is capable of playing several other instruments, besides guitar, and is famous for recording his albums single-handedly, without much help from session musicians.

In 2002, he left Blur, following a bitter dispute with the other members. He only featured in the last of the tracks for the following year's Think Tank. In April 2007, Alex James said Blur will be returning to studio in August with Graham Coxon. There they will decide whether to release a new album or call it quits.

Contents 1 Music career 1.1 Work in Blur, departure and reunion (1989-2002; 2007-present) 1.2 Solo work (1997-present) 2 Other artistic endeavours 3 Musicality and instruments 4 Discography 5 External links

Music career

Work in Blur, departure and reunion (1989-2002; 2007-present)

Main articles: Blur (band) and Blur discography

Graham Coxon studied Fine Arts at Goldsmiths College, London, for two years, until he quit due to the increasing success of his band at the time, Seymour, who later changed its name to Blur. He left the band in 2002 following a dispute with the other members and other circumstances. 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". 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 has frequently said that the door is always open for Coxon to rejoin the band. In 2004 it was rumoured that he was rejoining Blur, but both sides denied this. Coxon stated that although a reunion meeting was a good one, he would not be rejoining Blur and remained firm on his decision. It seems they patched-up some differences and continued their friendship, despite the turmoil surrounding Coxon's departure. However, at the time Coxon seemed adamant and refused to rejoin the band.

In April 2007, Alex James said that Blur will be returning to studio in August with Graham Coxon. It confirms previous reports from December 2006 by James, who said that he would persuade Coxon to return in the band. James said that in the studio they will decide whether to release a new album or call it quits.

Solo work (1997-present)

Coxon's highly individual style is perhaps best showcased on songs such as "Beetlebum" and "You're So Great" (both from Blur's 1997 album Blur), the latter being his first solo record and hailed as the start of his solo career, and "Coffee & TV" (from Blur's 13 for which he designed the cover art).

Coxon had already released three solo albums whilst a member of Blur. His first, released on his own Transcopic label was The Sky is Too High in 1998, a ramshackle mixture of English folk music and 1960s-style garage rock, under the influence of Billy Childish. This was followed by the more extreme The Golden D in 2000 and the thoughtful Dylan-Drakesque Crow Sit on Blood Tree (2001).

After going solo full time, he released The Kiss of Morning in 2002. The album proved to be his most accessible to date and was promoted with the single "Escape Song" which proved to be an interesting hybrid of Syd Barrett's "Octopus" and progressive rock trail-blazers The Nice. In 2004, Coxon released his fifth solo album Happiness in Magazines, produced by ex-Blur and The Smiths producer Stephen Street. This proved to be his most successful album to date, and he received the NME Award for 'Best Solo Artist' in 2005.

In March 2006 he released his sixth solo album, called Love Travels at Illegal Speeds, again produced by Stephen Street. As hinted by the title, the album is inspired by Coxon's current on-going romance with a model agent. It marks Coxon's first album away from his now-defunct indie label 'Transcopic'. The LP was preceded by the singles "Standing On My Own Again" on February 27 and "You & I". Coxon embarked on a tour of the UK, starting in March 20 at Newcastle University. He also got involved in a single supporting England at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The song was a re-working of the Sham 69 hit "Hurry Up Harry", and was released as "Sham 69 and The Special Assembly" (as well as Coxon and Sham 69, Virgin Radio DJ Christian O'Connell, who had run a competition on his show to find a band to record a song in support of the team, was involved in the recording of the song). "Hurry Up England" entered the UK Singles Chart at #10.

In September 2006 Coxon revealed a musical soundscape created especially for "Verheaven" an exhibition at London's Riflemaker Gallery of the work of artist Julie Verhoeven. In October 2006, Coxon released a double live album Burnt To Bitz immediately after his sold-out London Astoria show. The album features 27 songs, with at least one song from each of his albums.

Other artistic endeavours

Apart from being a musician, Coxon is also an artist, and he designs all of his album sleeves. He has also designed album sleeves for other artists. He studied fine art at Goldsmiths College for around a year in 1988, leaving to pursue his musical career with Blur. 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.

In July 2006, Graham Coxon wrote and had published a foreword for a new edition of Herman Hesse's novel, Narcissus and Goldmund.

Musicality and instruments

Apart from being a highly gifted and respected guitarist, Coxon is an accomplished musician, capable of playing many instruments. In his solo albums like Paul McCartney he performs nearly all of the instruments. He also appears to have earned the respect of his peers. Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood praised Coxon's musicality and talent: "Anything that has more of Graham's guitar playing, I'm bound to like."

During his days in Blur, Graham was rarely seen without a Fender Telecaster on stage. Exceptions would be made for his early days in Blur, where he had not yet discovered the Telecaster. Graham himself has admitted that he got a bit greedy with telecasters. These days, Graham often uses more than one guitar whilst preforming his solo work, Gibson SGs being one of them.

Discography

Main article: Graham Coxon discography

A list of Coxon's solo studio albums only

1. The Sky Is Too High (1998) – #31 (UK)
2. The Golden D (2000) – #81 (UK)
3. Crow Sit on Blood Tree (2001) – #131 (UK)
4. The Kiss of Morning (2002) – #126 (UK)
5. Happiness in Magazines (2004) – #19 (UK)
6. Love Travels at Illegal Speeds (2006) – #24 (UK)

External links

• Official Label Website Transcopic Records
• Official Website Graham Coxon Dot Co Dot Uk
• Art Website www.grahamcoxonart.com
• Graham Coxon myspace [1]

• Graham Coxon at Discogs
• Graham Coxon at MusicBrainz

v • d • e Blur

Damon Albarn • Alex James • Dave Rowntree • Graham Coxon Discography Albums: Leisure • Modern Life Is Rubbish • Parklife • The Great Escape • Blur • 13 • Think Tank Compilations: The Special Collectors Edition • Live at the Budokan • Bustin' + Dronin' • The 10 Year Limited Edition Anniversary Box Set • Blur: The Best of Singles: See Blur Singles Other projects The Ailerons • Fat Les • The Good, the Bad and the Queen • Gorillaz • Me Me Me • WigWam Related articles Food Records • Honest Jon's • Stephen Street • Transcopic • The Battle of Britpop