Name: Graham Leslie Coxon
Born: March 12th, 1969.
Family: Dad, Mother and Sister...6 years older.
Graham Leslie Coxon was born in a military hospital in Rinetein, near Hanover in the old West Germany, to an army bandsman father, who taught jazz at Saturday morning classes. His first music festival was at the age of 4 and his army family childhood was typically itinerant, starting at the German military base for five years, then moving to Derby to live with his grandfather, then to Colchester three years later. It wasn't until he attended Stanway Comprehensive School at the turn of the eighties that Graham began to immerse himself in the music around him. After Stanway, Graham went to the North Essex School of Arts and joined a group called "The Curious band". His first loves were Two Tone and The Jam, and soon after he taught himself the saxophone and the guitar, both with creditable ease. As ever, there were like-minded kids at school who came together through shared tastes in music and fashion, and in his manner 14-year-old-Graham befriended an unusual character called Damon Albarn. Damon and Graham went behind the music block and talked bands. Soon after, they both went on holiday with Graham's parents, cementing an already close friendship which could go on to form the foundation for the success of blur. Graham worked in the Supermarket giant Sainsburys and also as a pea picker before being sacked after too much time off - he became a protest vegetarian and ended up in a mental hospital in Colchester for about 7 days due to malnutrition.
In the meantime Graham had met another musical friend called Alex James, who was studying French at college. Alex who was two months older than Damon and had been brought up in Bournemouth by a father who sold fork-lift trucks and a mother who did voluntary work, including the local books on wheels service. At the age of 11, Alex bought a piano for £100 and he also studied violin. At school he was academically brilliant, passing all his exams with flying colours, and he even played a few games for Southampton FC's reserve team, but his real interest lay in music. Along with Graham, Alex delved into art and artistic movements, including their own band called 'Nichtkunst'. Then Graham introduced Alex to Damon as a potential bassist. The bournemouth student's first impression of the future 'Seymour' front man was very clear: "He completely pissed me off." Damon also went to Goldsmiths and at the time was in a group called "Circa". Damon asked Graham to join him and Graham was relieved to see that Dave Rowntree was on drums. Graham and Dave were in the band "Hazel Dean" together. Dave had also been given weekend jazz classes by Grahams dad. Afer Circus completed a demo the other band members left and that left Dave, Graham and Damon. Graham was friends with Alex James and got him to join as bass player. The group then changed there name to Seymour.
After doing a couple shows as Seymour, they were aproached by Food Records,
but were asked to change there name. They were given a few choices including blur and "sub" - they decided on blur.
In August 1991 Blur released there first album Leisure. When there second
single "There's No Other Way" reached Number One they made there first
appearance on Top Of The Pops. Graham couldn't get into the BBC studios and
had a fight with the doorman. During the USA tour for Leisure, Graham became
very ill with ulcers and was bleeding. By the end of the tour Graham was told he could not have any alcohol for 6 months and was sent home to rest and recover.
Grahams drinking has gotten him into lots of trouble. Once he was at a fancy party but was asked to leave because he got sick all over a guest.
A summary of the wild side of Graham descibed him as "The one who'll change from a mild mannerd lamb into rampaging tiger at the drop of a wine bottle, who'll bash his head against wardrobes until he loses vision, who gets knocked over by cars in the middle of the night and not remember a thing...."
This page was created by blur freek, feel free to email about anything!!
