Damon Albarn reveals how he missed out on working with Bowie, Prince and more

Virgin Radio

12 Aug 2021, 11:02

It’s fair to say that, as the frontman of two massively successful bands, and with solo albums and other amazing projects such as The Good, The Bad & The Queen, Damon Albarn has had a pretty incredibly career so far. That doesn’t mean, however, that he has no regrets.

Indeed, regrets, he’s had a few, and it turns out that there are not too few to mention, as he recently talked about them in an interview with The Herald. Specifically, he spoke about the missed opportunities he’s had to collaborate with some very, very big names over the years.

Speaking ahead of Gorillaz’s two huge gigs at London’s The O2 this week, which were played as a thank you to NHS workers, Damon said, “Dr. Dre, Prince and Kendrick Lamar… I missed all three of those. All my fault. Which is quite a lot of people to miss.”

The Blur frontman went on to talk about another missed opportunity. “David Bowie asked me and Ray Davies to make an album with him," he explained. "It was actually a serious thing we were going to do. He summonsed me when he was playing in Switzerland into the labyrinth of his backstage and I went to see him and he said, ‘Well, we’re going to do this but if this tour keeps doing as well as it is then I’m going to carry on touring.’”

Bowie’s tour did continue. “And that’s why there’s no album,” Damon said. “I regret that one. I just imagine what that might have sounded like.”

Us too, Damon! Us too. 

Despite all of this talk of near-misses when it comes to potentially amazing collaborations in his career, the musician’s focus will now turn towards his solo work, as his new album, The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows, lands in November.

It has also been announced that Damon has been added to the line-up at this year’s End Of The Road festival in September. He will perform with his live band and a string quartet.