(Photo by Martyn Goodacre/Getty Images)

British singer, songwriter, musician and producer Damon Albarn turns 50 today!

Best known for forming and fronting Brit-pop stalwarts Blur, he led the band through a string of successful albums including Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994) and The Great Escape (1995) during which time they were well-documents rivals of Oasis.

In the later 90s, Blur released their self-titled album in 1997 which delivered the global hit "Song 2", and then 13 in 1999.

Along with Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett, Albarn formed the "virtual band" Gorillaz in 1998. Drawing influences from alternative rock, trip hop, hip hop, electronica, dub, reggae and pop music, the band released their self-titled debut album in 2001 to worldwide success. Although Albarn is the only permanent musical contributor, the albums feature collaborations from a wide range of artists. Check out our article on Gorillaz hidden pop culture references, here.  

Here are some of our fave's of Damon's work...

We also highly recommend 2017's Humanz album...