Albarn was born on 23 March 1968; he is the elder child of artist Keith Albarn and his wife Hazel, "née" Dring. Their daughter Jessica, born in 1971, also went on to become an artist. Hazel Albarn, originally from Lincolnshire, was a theatrical set designer for Joan Littlewood's theatre company at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in London, and was working on the satirical play "Mrs Wilson's Diary" just before Damon was born. Keith Albarn, originally from Nottinghamshire, was briefly the manager of Soft Machine and once a guest on BBC's "Late Night Line-Up". He was head of the Colchester School of Art at Colchester Institute.