Damon Albarn’s architect and “influential teacher” father Keith has died

13 August, 2024

Keith Albarn

Damon Albarn’s architect father, Keith, has died, aged 85, it was announced today (August 13).

The father of the Blur frontman was an expert in art and design, having written many books and articles on the subject, as well as appearing on many TV and radio shows.

Keith passed away on July 25 after being diagnosed with cancer. As per an obituary in The Times, Keith was best known for his academic research into patterns and was a trustee at The Minories and Colchester Arts Centre. He was slo head of the School for Art, Design and Media at the Colchester Institute. Read More

Keith initially trained as an architect but eventually worked as an artist. The Times described him as a “creator of sensory space-age playgrounds in urban areas and an influential teacher.”

He married his wife Hazel while a student studying at the Nottingham School of Art. After moving to London, Keith went on to study sculpture at the Hammersmith School of Art.

With his wife Hazel and friend Ian Knight, they set up ‘Keith Albarn and Partners Ltd’ on Kingly Street and they became immersed in the London art scene of the swinging ‘60s.

Indeed, Keith helped to organise Yoko Ono’s first exhibition at the Indica Gallery where she met John Lennon for the first time.

English artist Keith Albarn
English artist Keith Albarn with Ian Knight (left) – CREDIT: R. McPhedran/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

After opening his establishment, Keith was thoroughly embedded in the London art scene and in 1966 he helped to organise Yoko Ono’s, 91, first exhibition at the Indica Gallery, where Yoko met John Lennon for the first time. In 1967, he also hosted the first exhibition of work by Malcolm McLaren.

Keith had two children with his wife Hazel, Britpop legend Damon, 56, and daughter Jessica, 53, who is an artist.

You can see some of the tributes to Keith here:

In other news, the future Blur remains somewhat uncertain, with Damon recently announcing that the band’s show at weekend two of Coachella 2024 would “probably [be] our last gig”. However, since then, Rowntree has thrown doubt on the comments, and suggested that there may still be more to come from the group.

“There’s still tons of stuff we could do… It’s about finding an offer that’s very hard to say no to,” he said. “When we first got back together in 2009, we were very happy to be the first people to play what has become the British Summer Time Festival at Hyde Park. Then we were asked to headline the party to end the 2012 Olympics, and you can’t say no to that.”

“So there’s absolutely no reason why we couldn’t consider another interesting idea, if we’re all available,” he added. “But there’s absolutely nothing in the diary for Blur at the moment.”

What is confirmed for now is that the band will soon be releasing a concert film of the Wembley gigs, titled Blur: Live at Wembley Stadium. It’ll arrive in cinemas across the UK and Ireland on September 6.

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