Graham, who had been born on the airbase in Germany (March 12,1969), was the son of a bandsman and he had gravitated to Colchester in 1977. Graham was encouraged at Stanway to learn the saxofone, an instrument which - some 15 years later - he would play for the first time as a member of Blur on Jubilee (on Parklife). Aged 12, Graham also began to play the guitar.

Alex James (November 21, 1968) grew up in Bournemouth on England's south coast, coming to London in the late '80s to study at Goldsmith's College, where he first met Graham.

Colchester-born Dave Rowntree (May 8, 1964), the son of a BBC sound engineer and mum who played piano in an orchestra, "took up" the bagpipes at a young age of "very youthful indeed", graduating to drums not long afterwards.

These four men formed a bizarre, Brechtian art-punk called Seymour - Damon on vocals (and occasional keyboards), Graham on guitar, Alex on bass and Dave on drums. After playing a dozen or so shows around London, they re-named the band Blur in 1989. Blur signed to Food Records in late 1989.

The first release from Blur was the single She's So High, in 1990. The story really began to gather speed with the next single, There's No Other Way, a sizeable hit in Britain in the Spring of 1991. The song saw Blur working for the first time with the legendary producer Stephen Street. Street has produced the bulk of Blur's music ever since, including all but on track on Parklife and every song on The Great Escape and Blur.

Leisure,Blur's debut album, released in August 1991, was an enjoyable collection of songs influencedby Sid Barret's Pink Floyd, the explosive guitars of my Bloody Valentine and vocal harmonies reminiscent of Revolver-era Beatles. A number 7 hit in Britain, Leisure was soon outgrown by Blur, who announced a complete change of attack on their great, "lost" single Popscene in March 1992: furiously-paced,with blaring honors over punk guitars.

<1992: furiously-paced,with blaring honors over punk guitars.

Damon had undergone a major transformation as a songwriter: from reticent by-stander to caustic commentator an Blur greedily stockpiled the songs that would make up their sophomore album, the critical break-through Modern Life Is Rubbish. Named after a piece of graffiti scrawled on a wall near London's hallowed monolith Marble Arch, Modern Life Is Rubbish (released in May 1993) was a total sea-change. Flying in the face of fashion, it was a huge pop encyclopedia of England. The album's witty and touchingly parochial songs aimed for, and acheived, a quintessential English sound not heard since the 1965-68 heyday of the Kinks.

This modern view of the urban England was developed on the third Blur album,Parklife (a number one chart entry in April 1994), which took an analytical,often complex look at England's foibles and misfortunes. The musiccreated by Blur - guitars, bass, saxophones, drums and insane plastic keyboards - drew from many classic English influences (Kinks, Bowie, Madness, Magazine) to create a palette that was inspirationally fresh and defiantly colloquial. The band won four Brit Awards for Parklife in early 1995.

The fourth album were The Great Escape, released in August 1995. It was Blur's biggest-selling album worldwide. It was nominated to five Brits and the single from Country House were number one in Britain.

Their latest album entitled Blur is now out. Add to this the guys are doing well in America and the first single, Beetlebum went number one. With the following three singles form the album all making the top 15.

Thanks to Blurmania