Alex James

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Alex James is an English bassist, born in 1968 in Bournemouth. He got into music when he was at home with chickenpox in 1980, the week John Lennon was shot. He watched the Beatles film Help! over and over, bought a songbook and a guitar and began working out chords. At secondary school he was already playing in bands.

Music and breakthrough

In 1988 James studied French at Goldsmiths College in London. There he met guitarist Graham Coxon, and through him Damon Albarn and Dave Rowntree. In 1989 he joined their new band Seymour, which soon came to be called Blur. With Blur he became one of the faces of Britpop: a group that joined English pop history, guitars and irony together. After a long break the band played together again in 2009, including at Glastonbury, and in 2012 Blur gave a concert in Hyde Park at the closing of the Olympic Games.

Influence

Besides Blur, James kept seeking other paths. In 1998 he formed Fat Les with actor Keith Allen and artist Damien Hirst; their football song Vindaloo became a big hit. He co-wrote and co-produced tracks by Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Marianne Faithfull, and played bass in Bad Lieutenant, the band of Bernard Sumner of New Order. Later he also became known as a radio presenter, writer and cheesemaker on his farm in Oxfordshire. His story shows how a Britpop musician grew into a versatile English public figure.

Listening

In School of Rock

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