About Graham Coxon
Graham Leslie Coxon (born 12 March 1969) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who came to prominence as a founding member of the British rock band Blur, of which he was the lead guitarist and secondary vocalist. Coxon is featured on all of Blur's studio discography (although 2003's Think Tank only features his playing on one album track and two B-side tracks due to his temporary departure from the band during recording sessions for the album). He has also since 1998 led a solo career in which he produces and plays all instrumentation. As well as being a musician, Coxon is a visual artist: he designed the cover art for all his solo albums as well as Blur's 13 (1999). Coxon plays several instruments and records his albums with little assistance from session musicians. Q magazine critic Adrian Deevoy has written: "Coxon is an astonishing musician. His restless playing style – all chord slides, rapid pulloffs, mini-arpeggios and fractured runs – seems to owe more to his saxophone training than [to] any conventional guitar tuition." An innovative lead guitarist, he has been described by Noel Gallagher, lead guitarist of the band Oasis, as "one of the most talented guitarists of his generation." Coxon was voted the 15th greatest guitarist of the last 30 years in a 2010 BBC poll. His musical interests were heavily influenced by Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett, whose work he had discovered by 1986.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.