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This Pop-Rock band were formed in London ENGAND, in 1989 by vocalist+keyboardist
Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon,
bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree; after playing many shows
under the moniker of Seymour, the quartet signed to Food Records, a subsidiary
of EMI and they renamed the band Blur.
The group made their debut in late 1990 with the single "She's So
High" and followed up with another single track, "There's No
Other Way", in early 1991, the latter reached the #8 on the National
U.K. chart; both singles were included on the band's first album, "Leisure",
which rose to #2 in Britain upon its release in the mid-summer of that
same year. The lead single also became a hit on alt-Rock stations in the
U.S. cracking the top 5 of The Modern Rock chart.
Following the failure of the non-album single "Pop Scene", the
band took a break and re-emerged in March 1993 with the second full-length
disc, "Modern Life Is Rubbish", it sneaked into the top 20 of
the U.K. chart on the back of the British single "For Tomorrow";
the album never charted in America but yielded the Modern Rock top 30
hit, "Chemical World".
Almost exactly a year later, the single "Girls And Boys" topped
the charts in Britain and even cracked The Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks
list peaking at #4; the single preceded the release of their breakthrough
album, "Parklife", which soared to #1 in Great Britain and debuted
at #6 on The Billboard's Top Heatseekers charts; Blur kicked off with
a live show in front of 8.000 fans at London's Alexandra Palace, scored
two more hit singles, "To The End" and "Parklife"
and the album had gone triple platinum.
At the same time, Oasis exploded onto the
British Pop-Rock scene and the two bands began a public war of words;
in June of 1995, when Gallagher brothers were about to release the single
"Roll With It", Blur convinced EMI to release "Country
House", the first single from their upcoming album, on the very same
day, the song shot to #1 on the Official Pop Singles chart and Blur had
won round one. They ultimately lost the war, as Oasis'
"(What's The Story) Morning Glory?" went on to sell millions
of copies all over the globe and Blur's 1995 album "The Great Escape"
was overshadowed by this; their fourth effort debuted at #1 on The U.K.
Albums chart but barely reached #150 on The Billboard Top 200 in the States,
it also included the catchy "Charmless Man" and the soulful
"The Universal", none of the singles off of the CD made a dent
on the American charts.
Again, the group disappeared for a while, re-emerging in January 1997
with the British #1 single track "Beetlebum"; one month later
their self-titled album hit the #1 spot in the U.K. Official chart, the
set also broke Blur in the States thanks to the alt-Rock radio success
of "Song 2", the single peaked at #6 on The Modern Rock chart
and pushed the album to #61 on The Billboard Top 200 list, their best
chart-placing to date in America.
The next year saw Graham Coxon launched
his own label, Transcopic and released his solo debut.
Blur returned in the spring 1999 with its sixth studio effort, "13",
the fourth consecutive #1 album in the U.K. which included three hit singles
"Tender", "Coffee & Tv" and " No Distance
Left To Run", but failed to rise above #80 in the U.S. Top 200 chart.
After a brief tour, they released a two-disc box set retrospective compilation
which featured the new single "Music Is My Radar".
Albarn during 2000 started his dance-oriented side project, Gorillaz,
in collaboration with comic cartoonist Jamie Hewlett and several leading
Hip-Hop producers.
After Coxon released a second solo album and the wordwide success of Albarn's
new venture, tension between it was confirmed in late 2002 that lead guitarist
Graham Coxon had left Blur.
The remaining three members returned with "Think Tank" in May
2003, Blur, once again rose to the top slot in the British Albums chart;
"Out Of Time" debuted at #3 on the Official Singles chart, the
second single cut, "Crazy Beat", peaked at #11 in England and
reached the #22 on The Modern Rock Tracks chart.
Blur biography is an exclusive of 100xr.com
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