Graham was born 33 years ago, on march 12th of 1969, in the hospital of the english army camp in Riteln, near Hanover, in Germany. His father Bob played clarinet in the army band, and his mom, Pauline, studied languages. When Graham was 3, the Coxons moved to Berlin, and there he lived until he was 6, when he moved to his grandpas house in Derby. In 1975, two years later, all the family moved to another army camp, this time in Colchester, Essex.
By this time he was already familiar with a few musical instruments. He could play the fife and the drums. At 11, he turned to the saxophone, and when he was 12 he started playing the guitar, that wasnt even his, it belonged to his older sister, Hayley. He learned to play it all by himself, playing along to records and reading The Who, The Jam and Beatles songbooks. In 1977 he entered the Stanway Comprehensive School. It was in this school where a couple of years later he met Damon Albarn. Damon and Graham soon became great friends and since they shared the same interest for music, they used to spend their lunch hours in the music class playing together. Later on, they even formed a band, 'The Aftermath', that was a disaster and didn't last long, and later another one 'Real Lives', this one was a bit better, they even managed to do a few concerts in pubs of Colchester, but still it didn't last much. Around this time Graham's instrument of choice was still the sax.
After Stanway, Graham and Damon went to the Colchester Sixth Form College, but Graham only remained there for one year. Graham, then 17, chose to go to the North Essex School Of Art And Design, to do a two year course and get a degree in General Art and Design. At this time, Graham also got a part-time job in the Sainsbury Supermarkets, so he could afford his expenses. The time he spent at North Essex was great for him, he had some spare time to go and hang around with bands, and also to be part of some of them, some of Graham's early bands were 'Hazel Dean and The Carp Eaters From Hell', 'The Curious Band' and 'Idle Vice', where he played for the first time with Dave Rowntree.
After getting his diploma at North Essex, he decided to enroll for the Arts course of Goldsmiths College, a well known art college in London. In 1987 he started taking classes at Goldsmiths, and in his first year there he met a french student, Alex James, that lived in the same student residence as him in Camberwell Green. They were introduced to each other by a friend in common, Paul Hodgson, and they got on well right from the start, and were constantly going out together, drinking a lot, having fun, even if they didn't had much money. Their time at Goldsmiths was very well spent, when they were not having classes, they would be going out, enjoying themselves and of course listening to the bands they loved. It was also at Goldsmiths where Graham retook his friendship with Damon, who had just started a music course there. Damon would sometimes ask Graham to play sax in one of his songs.
At this time, Damon, frustrated with his 'acting career', had turned completely to music, and was working in a studio, and the owners would let him and his band rehearse there at night. The band was called Circus, it was a quintet and the drummer, Dave, was also a friend of Graham's, it was actually Graham who had introduced him to Damon. When the guitarist of the band left, Damon asked Graham to join. The band kept playing together but sometime later, the two other members either left or were fired by Dave (i don't know which is the true version), and they needed a bass player, Graham then suggested his friend Alex, who wasn't a terrific player, but could play well enough and had a cool attitude. The group was now, Damon, Graham, Alex and Dave, and they changed their name to Seymour, after a JD Salinger character. So, you can see how, if it weren't for Graham the four members of Blur would probably never have met since he was the connection between all of them.
The four of them soon developed a good friendship and spent the nights locked in a room playing and rehearsing, while during the day they were trying to live their lives studying and working. The couple who ran the studio where they rehearsed sent a Seymour demo to Food Records, Andy Ross one of Food's executives liked what he heard and went to see them live. Pleased with what he saw, Ross and his partner David Balfe, said they would like to sign them, but with the condition that they would change their name. Blur was chosen from a list of names presented to them. And then the story of the band begins.
From there on it's hard to separate Graham's story from Blur's. From 1990 to 93, his life was similar to the one of many group members of bands that are starting their career, well, perhaps a bit more unhealthy and harsh then usual, but still... there were many long tours, full of drinks, a bit of fun and many fights. Always susceptible to illness, Graham had a crisis of ulcers during one of Blur's firsts tours, the result of much drinking, smoking and bad eating. Homesickness and fights between them, were constant in these early tours. Apparently the worst tour was one they made to the US in 92, where no one knew them, they would fight all the time, the record company didn't cared about them, and the public reception was the worst possible, the americans weren't interested in what they were doing, since at the time Grunge was at it's height over there...it was a terrible time for them, and they returned home with a bit of rancor towards the US. This tour ended up defining the direction Blur would take afterwards, a rejection of american influences and, lyrics who would speak mostly about the british way of life. There were also the moments were they were not on tour, that was spent mostly in the studio and, as they were always good drinkers, in bars and pubs.
In 1994 it all changed, the semi-disbelieved Blur, really broke through with their third album, Parklife. The record was a success and all of the sudden they were idols, not that no one knew them before, but from an alternative band, they became the most popular band in England. Even their audience changed a bit, girls would swoon over Damon and they had to deal with their sudden celebrity status. In 95/96, it all got worst and Graham couldn't take it anymore, he hated everything they were living, was not really happy with the musical direction they were taking. Not knowing how to deal with the situation, he started drinking more and more, and getting more aggressive, the relationship between the members of the band was deteriorating really fast. Arguments were frequent, and everything culminated in the beginning of 96 when during the recording of a b-side, Graham and Damon had a huge fight, and after that they wouldn't speak to each other.
But soon they all realized that something had to change or it would be the end. Graham was the first to show his displeasure with the situation, but Damon afterwards also realized that they had to change, not only musically and but in the personal level as well. They both exchanged letters that helped save their relationship; at this time Graham who wasn't happy with the way he was behaving decided to go teetotal, and stopped drinking and smoking. Blur, the record, was released in the beginning of 97 and included the first song written solely by Graham, You're So Great; of all Blur's records we could say that this is the one who has more of Graham touch, he seemed particularly inspired at this time, and the record has fantastic guitar parts, that gave it the peculiar and special feel it has. During the rest of the year they go on tour promoting the record.
In february of 98, Graham launches his label, Transcopic, created to release music that he loves. In august of the same year, he releases his first solo album, The Sky Is Too High, full of beautiful melancholic folk songs. The songs for the record were written during his teetotal period, and surprised quite a few people who were expecting a more 'heavier' record from him. Soon after, he was back in the studio with Blur, recording their sixth album, 13. The cover of the record showed details of a beautiful Graham painting that reflects well the more intimate feel of the music inside it. Released in 1999, 13, is more experimental and loose then its predecessors, and showed once again that they didn't want to sit still and do the same album, over and over again, they were always moving forward into new directions. After the release they once again went on tour promoting the album.
2000 was a very important year for Graham cause Anna, his girlfriend at the time, gave birth to Pepper, his daughter. In the same year Graham releases his second solo album, The Golden D, very different from his first one, this was heavier and faster, comprised mainly of hard rock songs to which he could listen while he skated through Camden streets. In 2001, as Blur didn't returned to the studio, Graham had plenty of time to work on his third album, Crow Sit On Blood Tree. It was released in august, and its a fantastic emotional record. Once again he wrote all songs and performed all instruments by himself. Throughout 2001, Graham struggled with personal problems, and decided to stop drinking by the end of the year. Which he did. He also met the other Blurs and started working on their new album.
2002 brought shocking news to Blur fans. One day in May when Graham was getting ready to go to the studios to continue recording the new album, he received a phone call from Blur's manager telling him that the others felt it would be best if he didn't came to the studios. And therefore dismissing him from Blur. Graham still doesn't know why since none of them expressed any real discontent with his attitude before. But he wouldn't let this drag him down and decided to free himself to anything related to Blur and focus on his family and work. He had already recorded his fourth solo album, 'The Kiss Of Morning', which was released in October. It's a wonderful album, and it received praises from all around the globe.
Graham is now writing new songs and he's planning to do a small tour in 2003, that may include even some other european countries and the US.
Source: http://www.grahamcoxon.org
