It started with fronting Blur, then went to starting the world's first animated band - Gorillaz then linking up with Tony Allen, Paul Simonon of The Clash and Simon Tong of The Verve for The Good, The Band and The Queen. Now he is onto starting Rocketjuice and the Moon with Flea and Tony Allen and just finished DRC Music, a collection of music recorded over a week period in the Congo to benefit Oxfam. Not to mention he has written and scored an opera and a musical production. He doesn't stop and hopefully will not find time to stop in the near future, because Damon Albarn is someone we truly admire and call an icon. In a new superlative that will start this year to couple in with our 5 years and something we will hand out every November to go with our anniversary month, we wish to name Damon Albarn our first recipient of this award.
Albarn who is not afraid to experiment with music and not afraid to try new styles has successfully gone from making great Britpop and Britrock to one of the best hip-hop acts of the last 15 years thanks to Gorillaz massive sound and finds time to bring in beautiful tones with his other projects. His creative nerve and root has only gotten stronger as he has gotten older and for that we appreciate him and call him an icon.
**Photo by Leah Marchesano