Graham Coxon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Graham Coxon
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Coxon at Wembley Stadium in 2023
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Graham Leslie Coxon |
| Born | 12 March 1969 Rinteln, West Germany |
| Origin | Colchester, Essex, England |
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| Years active | 1988–present |
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Graham Leslie Coxon (born 12 March 1969) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as a founding member and lead guitarist of the rock band Blur. He also sings backing vocals and sometimes lead vocals for the band.
Coxon has played on almost all of Blur's studio albums. He also has a successful solo career, starting in 1998. For his solo albums, he often plays all the instruments himself. Besides music, Graham Coxon is also a visual artist. He designed the album covers for all his solo records and for Blur's album 13.
Music critics have praised Coxon's guitar playing. He is known for his unique and restless style. Another famous musician, Noel Gallagher from the band Oasis, called him "one of the most talented guitarists of his generation." In a 2010 BBC poll, Coxon was voted the 15th greatest guitarist of the last 30 years.
Contents
Early Life and Childhood
Graham Coxon was born in Rinteln, West Germany. His father, Bob Coxon, was a clarinet player and band leader in the British Army. As a child, Graham lived in Spondon, Derby, England, where he became a fan of the Derby County football team.
Later, his family moved to Colchester, Essex, in South East England. There, he met Damon Albarn, who would become another member of Blur. They met at The Stanway School when Graham was 11 years old. Graham even appeared on the popular BBC children's TV show Blue Peter twice!
Music Career
Blur's Journey
Graham Coxon studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths College in London for two years. There, he met bassist Alex James. His musical interests were greatly influenced by Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett.
Graham left college because his band, then called Seymour, was becoming very successful. The band later changed its name to Blur. This was because their record company, Food Records, thought "Seymour" sounded too much like a student band. They gave the band a list of other names, and "Blur" was chosen.
As Blur's lead guitarist, Graham also sang backing vocals and sometimes played drums. His unique musical style influenced Blur's sound, especially their less commercial music in the late 1990s. He sang lead vocals on songs like "Red Necks" and "You're So Great." He also sang on "Coffee & TV" and parts of "Tender" and "Lonesome Street".
During the mid-1990s, when the media called it the 'Battle of Britpop', Graham became uncomfortable with the music industry. He sometimes acted awkwardly, like refusing to appear in the video for Blur's song "Country House" unless he could dress as a milkman.
Graham left Blur temporarily in 2002 while they were recording their album Think Tank. He felt it was time for a change and to focus on other things. His last contribution to the album was the song "Battery in Your Leg."
After some time, Graham and Damon Albarn became friends again. On 9 December 2008, Blur announced they would reunite for a show in Hyde Park in 2009. They played many more shows and festivals, including Glastonbury.
On 17 April 2010, Blur released their first new song since 2003, called "Fool's Day". In 2015, Graham and the band announced their eighth studio album, The Magic Whip. This was Blur's first album in 12 years with their original lineup.
After another 8 years, Blur released their ninth album, The Ballad of Darren. The band went on a big international tour, playing at festivals like Coachella and two sold-out concerts at Wembley Arena. In July 2024, they released a documentary about their reunion and tour, called blur: To The End.
Solo Music Adventures
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Graham Coxon released three solo albums even while he was still a member of Blur. His first, The Sky Is Too High, came out in 1998 on his own record label, Transcopic. He then released The Golden D in 2000 and Crow Sit on Blood Tree in 2001.
After leaving Blur in 2002, he released The Kiss of Morning. In 2004, his fifth solo album, Happiness in Magazines, became his most successful. He even won the NME Award for Best Solo Artist in 2005.
In 2006, he released Love Travels at Illegal Speeds. He also helped record a song called "Hurry Up England" to support the England national football team for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. This song reached No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart.
In 2007, Graham released a song with Paul Weller called "This Old Town". His seventh solo album, The Spinning Top, came out in 2009. Graham said this album was mostly acoustic and told the story of a person's life from birth to death. His eighth solo album, A+E, was released in 2012.
Graham also wrote and recorded the music for the TV series The End of the F***ing World for Channel 4 and Netflix. This was his first time creating an original score for a show. He later released an album for a fictional band called Bloodwitch for another Netflix series, I Am Not Okay with This.
In 2021, Graham released Superstate, which was both a graphic novel and a studio album. It told a story about a future world. He drew the cover art himself, as he often does for his solo work.
More recently, in 2023, Graham formed a folk rock band called The Waeve with Rose Elinor Dougall. They released their first album and toured England. Their second album, City Lights, came out in September 2024.
Other Music Projects
Graham Coxon's independent record label, Transcopic, helped other artists release their music. He also designed all of his own album covers and worked with a friend, Nick Craske, on digital art and music videos.
Graham has also remixed songs for other bands like Idlewild. In 2009, he played on almost every song of Pete Doherty's solo album, Grace/Wastelands.
In 2013, Graham was part of a special project where artists re-recorded the classic Beatles album Please Please Me. He recorded the song "Baby It's You" live as part of a 10-hour recording session for BBC Radio 2.
In 2019, Graham helped write songs for the Duran Duran album Future Past. He even performed with Duran Duran at the 2021 Billboard Awards Show.
Instruments and Gear
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Graham Coxon often uses Fender Telecaster guitars. He has a special 1968 model that Fender later reissued as a signature guitar. Since Blur reunited in 2009, he mostly uses a vintage Fender Telecaster Deluxe.
In earlier years, he also used Gibson Les Pauls and a Fender Jaguar. For some songs, he uses a Gibson ES-335. He has also used a changed Fender Musicmaster guitar, which you can see in the "Coffee & TV" and "Beetlebum" music videos. For his solo work, he uses different guitars, including Gibson SGs and a Burns London Sonic.
Graham uses many effects pedals to create his unique sound. These include distortion, delay, and flange pedals. He uses a custom-made pedalboard. For his guitar sound, he uses two Marshall amplifiers with large speaker cabinets.
Other Creative Work
Graham Coxon is a talented visual artist and creates all of his own album covers. He has also designed covers for other musicians. In 2006, he wrote the introduction for a new edition of the book Narcissus and Goldmund by Herman Hesse. His artwork also appeared on the cover of English folk singer Kate Rusby's album The Girl Who Couldn't Fly.
In October 2022, Graham published his memoir (a book about his own life) called Verse, Chorus, Monster!. It was published by Faber and Faber.
Personal Life
Graham Coxon is in a relationship with his bandmate from The Waeve, Rose Elinor Dougall. They have a daughter together.
Solo Discography
- Solo studio albums
- The Sky Is Too High (1998)
- The Golden D (2000)
- Crow Sit on Blood Tree (2001)
- The Kiss of Morning (2002)
- Happiness in Magazines (2004)
- Love Travels at Illegal Speeds (2006)
- The Spinning Top (2009)
- A+E (2012)
- The End of the F***ing World (Original Songs And Score) (2018)
- The End of the F***ing World 2 (Original Songs And Score) (2019)
- I Am Not Okay with This (as Bloodwitch) (Original Songs And Score) (2020)
- Superstate (2021, in association with Z2 Comics)
Images for kids
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Graham Coxon performing in 2023.
See also
In Spanish: Graham Coxon para niños
