Alex James (musician)

The only member of Blur not to come from Colchester, James met future bandmate Graham Coxon at Goldsmith's College, where the two were studying, and was introduced to Damon Albarn and Dave Rowntree, who at the time were part of a band called Circus. He eventually joined the three's new band, Seymour in 1989, which would later be renamed Blur. He has remained in the band since.

Unlike his bandmates Albarn and Coxon, James has not released any solo material, although he has been involved in other side projects. In 1998 James formed Fat Les with Keith Allen, Damien Hirst and others, and released (amongst others) the World Cup single "Vindaloo", which reached #2 in the UK charts. He also worked on a side project called Me Me Me with Stephen Duffy, and has co-written songs for Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Marianne Faithful.

James writes for the British newspapers The Independent and The Observer, as well as The Idler and Q magazines. He has a serious interest in space and space travel, which led him to involve Blur in helping the ill-fated Beagle 2 project, producing the Mars probe's signature tune. His obsession with space is further illustrated by the track "Far Out" on Parklife, on which James sings a list of moonss and stars.

He is married to Claire Neate, a video producer. They have one son.

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