Damon Albarn’s father, Keith Albarn, has died aged 85.
Albarn’s architect dad’s passing was confirmed in an obituary in The Times newspaper.
It read: “Keith Albarn obituary: artist, architect and father of Damon.
“Creator of sensory space-age playgrounds in urban areas and an influential teacher.”
He studied architecture at Nottingham School of Art, where he met fellow student Hazel Dring, whom he married in 1963 in Legsby, Lincolnshire.
They had two children, Damon and artist daughter Jessica.
From 1977 to 1981, he was course leader of fine art at North East London Polytechnic. From 1981 to 1997 he was the head of the Colchester School of Art.
As well as designing modular structures, Keith was known for his work in TV arts programming.
His passing comes months after Blur wrapped their reunion shows at Coachella in April.
And drummer Dave Rowntree recently teased that Blur are willing to work together more often as long as the opportunities are right.
Blur are releasing a live album of their two gigs at Wembley Stadium last summer and the sticksman admits the temptation to do more projects is always there.
He told the Daily Star newspaper’s Wired column: “There’s still tons of stuff we could do. It’s about finding an offer that’s very hard to say no to.
“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.”
Dave explained that Blur had fun on the tour that accompanied the release of the album ‘The Ballad of Darren’ last year.
Rowntree said: “We came away all still friends, having had a lot of fun doing the shows.
“So there’s absolutely no reason why we couldn’t consider another interesting idea, if we’re all available. But there’s absolutely nothing in the diary for Blur at the moment.”
Meanwhile, fans can check out the candid documentary film ‘Blur: To The End’.
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